# Ax the person who's never going to ride in a car again **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 1, 2014, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557 "2014-08-01T04:55:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/21 "2014-08-01T16:45:29Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > This is the time of year when I see a LOT of people sitting in the front passenger seat with their bare feet up on the dash. I guess they want to get a tan on the soles of their feet or something. I don’t know why, but this really irritates me. This drives me nuts. All fine and dandy until an airbag goes off. I will NOT let my wife do that. Yeah, I saw the story before and I’ve got to nit-pick too. It’s a hatchet, not an ax. Also hate it that reporters call every and any type of construction equipment a ‘bulldozer’ And I bet it did bounce off the road. It had to lose speed to come crashing through the window. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/22 "2014-08-01T16:46:32Z")
Once had a piece of [rebar](http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/073291/073291050160lg.jpg) fall off a truck in front of me while doing about 60 on the interstate. Bounced once and went harpoon-like through the radiator of my Volvo wagon. It was stopped by the front of the engine block. Mass mechanical chaos erupted, and I’m sitting on the side of I-85 in North Carolina waiting on a tow truck. 8 inches higher and it would have been in my windshield. Shit happens. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/23 "2014-08-01T16:46:36Z")
> [@Scarlett67](#): > > A few weeks ago, a highway worker in this area was hit in the head with a shovel that fell off a passing truck. Fortunately he only needed nine (!) stitches. Too bad he didn’t have just one stitch before he left home that day. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/24 "2014-08-01T17:43:45Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > It’s a hand axe, [not a hatchet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatchet). And you’re quite a CSI kind of guy based on one small picture. > > I’m fairly certain I would have soiled my armor. In this particular instance I believe Wiki is wrong. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/25 "2014-08-01T17:50:50Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Dang, I thought you were tougher than that. I would have caught it in my teeth, slowed down to spit it out on the shoulder and kept on going. I spent two summers doing a lot of brush/small tree cutting down in paw paw bottom swinging a double bit 6 pounder. I had nuff close calls to make me not want to do that anymore. As a pilot, when things come through the front windows, ( buzzards, hawks, large hail chunks, etc., ) it usually made me squeak a bit so if I did not see it come off the truck & was a total surprise, yeah, I would prolly squeak :eek: but of course then I would make lightning quick ( I am way over qualified to do that ) decisions that would save the rest of the day. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/26 "2014-08-01T17:54:44Z")
> [@Crotalus](#): > > It’s a hand axe, [not a hatchet](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatchet). And you’re quite a CSI kind of guy based on one small picture. > > I’m fairly certain I would have soiled my armor. Well, I agree that something made it spin fast for it to chop that hole & stick in the dash that way but not hitting the wood end even once at those speeds to create that spin is questionable. The picture is actually pretty good for detail in that respect IMO That is why my armor is so stained, it is a PITA to get really clean. I don’t have any serfs to do that for me & I;m lazy about it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/27 "2014-08-01T17:55:55Z")
> [@MEBuckner](#): > > Alternatively, the passenger in that car will experience a series of increasingly bizarre and terrifying accidents until Death finally catches up with 'em. Perhaps he’s Rincewind. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/28 "2014-08-01T18:01:52Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Too bad he didn’t have just one stitch before he left home that day. Ok, I LOL’d ---
**Author:** ![The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_great_unwashed/32/4791_2.png) [@The\_Great\_Unwashed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Great_Unwashed)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/29 "2014-08-01T18:28:41Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > From the linked article. > > But if the driver had been doing some other speed, _he wouldn’t have been in that exact spot_. +1 > [@Locrian](#): > > You kidding? If that happened to me, I’d feel a lot safer in driving. Not much of a chance of that happening again. Kinda like when Garp bought the house after the plane flew into it. -1 Look up Gambler’s Fallacy ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2014, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/30 "2014-08-01T23:06:30Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > That’s not an ax, it is a hatchet This is needlessly picky. Look in any dictionary. The entry for “hatchet” is going to start with " [a](http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/hatchet) [small](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hatchet)[ax](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/hatchet) with…". You’re comment is akin to saying “that’s not a vehicle, it’s a Toyota Corolla” ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/31 "2014-08-02T02:27:52Z")
…who axed the ‘e’ in ‘axe’? ---
**Author:** ![PorchePine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@PorchePine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PorchePine)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/32 "2014-08-02T02:38:02Z")
I had an unsecured flashlight in my truck once. I was in a head on collision, and it flew past my head and embedded itself in the windshield. A few inches to the left, and it would have embedded itself in the back of my head. Those horror stories they tell in driver’s ed can actually happen. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/33 "2014-08-02T07:00:05Z")
> [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > …who axed the ‘e’ in ‘axe’? We Americans. Seriously. The change from “axe” to “ax” is an Americanism. One of the things that make American English, well, American is the dropping of letters that aren’t needed phonetically. To throw out an easy example: think about colour vs color. ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/34 "2014-08-02T08:09:34Z")
Thanks, **armdmonky**. I know you guys favour ‘z’ over ‘s’, generally hate ‘u’ and will happily omit the odd ‘i’, but ‘ax’ just looks ridiculous. I’m not playing Scrabble with any of you. Sorry for the sidetrack. I’m sure the passenger correctly identified the said item as a “FUUUCK!!” ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/35 "2014-08-02T09:10:05Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > That’s not an ax, it is a hatchet, just over being a toy by a little bit. Regardless of whether or not hatchets have hammer heads, what do you think a hatchet is, if not an axe? > [@armedmonkey](#): > > One of the things that make American English, well, American is the dropping of letters that aren’t needed phonetically. I think you mean “foneticly”. ---
**Author:** ![Ms\_Boods](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5e9695/32.png) [@Ms\_Boods](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms_Boods)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/36 "2014-08-02T09:18:10Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > [Slightly off-topic rant] I used to work with a guy who would use that word. He spoke well except for that one word; as in, “Can I ax you a question?” I _really_ wanted to ax (as in hatchet) him for being so @$!#&ing stoopit!!! > That’s what I thought of when I saw the thread title. [/slightly off-topic rant] But it’s awesome in a menacing Yardie accent. ‘Did I ox you?’ [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAeprWIOQqQ) ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/37 "2014-08-02T09:57:36Z")
> [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](#): > > I’m not playing Scrabble with any of you. I hate to break this to you, but [Srabble](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabble#History) was invented by an American. > [@6ImpozzibleThingsB4Breakfazt](#): > > “FUUUCK!!” ETA. I tried to make a joke about _Scrabble_, and I spelled it wrong. Take that as you will. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Shine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr_shine/32/464_2.png) [@Mr\_Shine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Shine)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/38 "2014-08-02T10:03:45Z")
> [@dougie\_monty](#): > > AX you? YE!!! Did you even read the OP or any other post in the thread? ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/39 "2014-08-02T13:04:49Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#): > > I hate to break this to you, but [Srabble](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrabble#History) was invented by an American. Inventing the tiles and board was the easy bit - actually arranging them into correctly spelled words, well… Anyway, shouldn’t that be ‘Scrabl’? I don’t like my American name. It’s like a digestive problem. Or the mutterings of someone recovering from an axe flying through the windscreen of their car. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2014, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557/40 "2014-08-02T14:26:07Z")
> [@armedmonkey](#): > > We Americans. Seriously. The change from “axe” to “ax” is an Americanism. One of the things that make American English, well, American is the dropping of letters that aren’t needed phonetically. To throw out an easy example: think about colour vs color. I’ll remember that the next time I’m in a q. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ax-the-person-whos-never-going-to-ride-in-a-car-again/694557.md?page=3)