What is the origin of the word ZAX?

Search me, I never could get past antidisestablishmentarianism.

My idiot ex thought that was the coolest word in the world. It’s utter nonsense.

It are? Uh, I mean, it is?

None of my biz, but you sure are cold about your ex. I’m sure he wasn’t a bad feller.

He was OK, when he wasn’t being an asshole and going out on me. We were married 10 years. The last 2 were pretty horrible. He was getting more and more abusive. Then he up and left, moved 2000 miles away. The kids were really young, like 4 and 6. He just abandoned them.

Geez… well that explains it. My apologies for being nosey. Thank what ever powers may or may not be, that I’m not a woman. I once heard PMS described as putting up with men’s shit. Must be some truth to that.

Oh, for realz. And their egos make them so tetchy and emotional. We have to take care of their egos to keep the peace. Just wanna take a ZAX to them sometimes!

LOL

I wish someone would answer this question!

Well, all I can say is good luck with it. I have no earthly idea what a zax is. Never even heard the word.

What does ZAX have to do with the World Wildlife Fund? Ohhhhh, wait, The World Wrestling Federation? I always forget who got the rights to that.

OK- according to my American Heritage Dictionary, a zax is a “Hatchet like tool for cutting and dressing roofing slates”. From old English term for ax.

It’s Axe with a Z..)

Edit. I messed up.

Apparently @imrainmaker, which makes me wonder if it’s a made up word.

Actually @Dutchess_III if you read what he wrote, the second sentence gives the derivation.

Right. I edited.

It’s a good word. It has zax appeal.

The OED says zax is a variant spelling of sax (OED Concise edition, physical). Saxe is nothing. Zaxe is nothing.

It’s a tool used when installing slate tiles as roofing.Most likely the term “zax” is a verbal contraction for “roofer’s axe” or more likely, a “slaters axe’.

“Axe, Slaters’. Also called Sax, Saxe, Slate Cleaver, Slate Cutters’ Trimmer, Slate Trimmer, and Zax. A one-handed tool with a long cutting edge on one side and a sharp spike opposite the cutting edge. This tool was used to trim and punch holes in roofing slates. The cutting edge is approximately 16 inches long. The handle is often leather-filled to reduce the shock on the hand during use.” Dictionary of American Hand Tools: A Pictorial Synopsis Compiled by Alvin Sellens, 2002

As cited here.

I’m curious what it has to do with WWF?

Aha! I just figured it out!

WORDS WITH FRIENDS!

Zax vs Zaxe: IMHO, since ax and axe are variant spellings of the same word,it stands to reason that zax and zaxe should be interchangable.

ZAX is acceptable in WWF. ZAXE is not. But I think ZAXES is. If AX and AXE are acceptable, and ZAX is acceptable, then ZAXE should be acceptable.

I agree. I suppose there are WWF gods, (just like there are fluthergods) that you could appeal to.

@Dutchess_III Sounds like a dang algebra problem.

It is a tool/instrument. a personal name or a computer.

English does not have reliable spelling rules for all words, not by a long shot. Not every word ending in -X, or even -AX, can have an optional silent E added and still be a correct spelling.

No such thing as TAXE reform.
No FAXE machines.
No FLAXE.
No WAXE.
No ANTICLIMAXE.

In fact, OED lists AX as a US variant spelling of AXE – i.e. the word is AXE, and AX is an Americanism. AXE and SAX (or ZAX) are not from the same root. SAX is usually short for saxophone. But the SAX that ZAX is an alternate spelling for, is not a saxophone but a specific type of small axe whose origin is the SEAX (also never with an extra -E at the end), an old type of knife/weapon.

LOL @Dutchess_III I kept thinking that WWF was about wrestling! You had me really confused!

I’m sorry!

@Zaku but ZAX and AX are pretty much the same thing. My friend argues that if you can have AXE you can have ZAXE. I argue that I’m not even sure it’s a real word. Maybe it was just made up recently as a A/X word to play on online word games.

I seem to associate a zax with a Dr Seuss character. Maybe it’s morphed into its own since then. ;D

@Dutchess_III “but ZAX and AX are pretty much the same thing.”
Depends on how much one cares about weapon/tool details. These are the Google image search results for axes. Googling zaxes instead brings up lots of Dr. Seuss Zaxes and random other images, and one picture of a zax which is from another discussion board on the same topic of WTF is a zax in Words With Friends (scroll down)?

“My friend argues that if you can have AXE you can have ZAXE. I argue that I’m not even sure it’s a real word.”
I think your friend is, formally speaking, incorrect. OED would list ZAXE as an alternate spelling if it were one. It is listed however on at least one (unofficial) Scrabble web site: http://scrabblecheat.mobi/scrabbler/definition/zaxe , but I think they’re technically wrong too. And of course, if your friend likes it being a valid move, you may as well just agree to play with it, as long as you’re not playing with others without telling them. IIRC, Scrabble says players should agree on a dictionary to use before playing.

That’s what I’m talking about. The vast majority of sites that even mention it are online scrabble and Words With Friends forums. I only find an actual definition in 1 of the 3 dictionaries I use, and that definition says it is pretty much a type of ax that roofers use.

And what do you mean ” agree to play with it, as long as you’re not playing with others without telling them.” If WWF accepts a word then I’m going to play it. I only use the dictionaries to look up the definition of some of the crazy words it accepts, not to determine what word to play. I use my own brain for that. I do NOT use a cheat, and I don’t play people who use a cheat. I do have a spread sheet I started for wacky words it’s accepted, so I don’t forget them.

If WWF accepts it, the people I’m playing can SEE with their own eyes that I have played it, and they then know they can play it too. Nobody has to agree on anything online. All the work is done for you.

Dictionaries are a non-issue in online games like that because WWF often does not accept words that are in the dictionary. It accepts some abbreviations, like MM, but not other abbreviations. It accepts some slang, like SHIT, but not other slang words.

The north going zax and the south going zax. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dZmZzGxGpSs

@Dutchess_III Oh I meant if you were playing a physical game of Scrabble rather than WWF.

Oh, well, yeah. IRL you grab a dictionary and share it. Or grab two. If they were different dictionaries and one had a word and the other didn’t, you had to settle it between yourselves. As I recall, if it was found anywhere, we accepted it.