I can understand confusing axel and axle, as it is so easy to transpose the e and l when you’re typing and not paying attention.
That’s why writers have proofreaders, ahem.
Preferably, proofreaders who are awake and aware of the difference between axel and axle.
‘Cause I sure as heck don’t want to be worried about my car doing an axel, especially if I’m in it!! Can you imagine? Your car jumping up, spinning around, and then landing? We hope.
Man, if my car did an axel, I betcha it’d break my car’s axles! And I won’t be going anywhere if my wheels won’t turn.
Word Confusions…
…started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.
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| Axel | Axle |
|---|---|
| Credit to: Apple Dictionary.com; Lexico.com: axel, axle | |
Axel Paulsen Jump was made by Helena Grigar who uploaded it to — The axel is said to be the single hardest jump in figure skating, and we’ve seen it so many times. |
SHSM truck 12T is courtesy of the Federal Highway Administration is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — This truck silhouette shows the position of two axles for the truck and a single axle for the trailer. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Noun
Plural: axels |
Noun
Plural: axles |
| A jump in skating with a forward takeoff from the forward outside edge of one skate to the backward outside edge of the other, with one-and-a-half turns in the air | A rod or spindle (either fixed or rotating) passing through the center of a wheel or group of wheels
A bar, fixed crosswise under an animal-drawn vehicle, with a rounded spindle at each end upon which a wheel rotates
|
| Examples: | |
| I did some triple jumps, everything but the lutz and the axel.
He is also using the triple axel / triple toe loop in his long program and is working on the quadruple salchow and quadruple flip. The second strategic mistake was the absence of a triple axel combination or quadruple toe loop attempt in the free skate. |
The exhaust pipe corrodes around the bend which goes over the rear axle on motor cars.
North American railways operate cars at much higher axle loads. There’d have to be changes there: in the boilers, the pistons, the axles and wheels… rebuild the whole thing. |
| History of the Word: | |
| 1930s: named after Axel R. Paulsen (1885–1938), Norwegian skater. | Middle English, originally axle-tree, from the Old Norse ǫxultré. |
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan…which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them…and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions by exploring the index. You may also want to explore Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, and/or the Properly Punctuated.
Pinterest Photo Credits:
Wheel Set Axle, via Pikist.com. Nicole Scott – German Championships 2012 is EisfotoHella‘s own work under the CC BY 3.0 license. The Mall, Bristol, Gloucestershire, England, December 2008, by mattbuck is under the CC BY-SA 2.0 license. The last two are via Wikimedia Commons.
