Where did we get the term "wrapped around the axle"?

[CTyankee]

A congressman from New York used the expression twice in describing the GOP's usage of "defund the police" in an interview with Joe Scarborough today. As usual Scar was trying to trap him into trying to defend that idea. My guess is that it is a Navy term (at least I've only heard it from a retired naval officer who was once my neighbor).

Am I right?

[Rorey]

1. I've never heard of it

Maybe it's a regional expression?

[CTyankee]

3. I really don't know. I never heard it growing up in Texas and haven't in New Haven where I live now.

But I used to live in No. Virginia and had a neighborhood full of retired military officers and that's where I heard it.

[gab13by13]

2. I know the significance,

When I was snow blowing deep snow in my yard and ran over some chicken wire that shouldn't have been in my yard, I had a heck of a time untangling the wire wrapped around my axle.

[CTyankee]

9. Yep, I get that...not a good situation...

[hack89]

4. Originally it had to do with horse drawn wagons

Bad things happen if somehow your reigns or other pieces of the harness got caught in the wheels or axles. How it came to eventually mean to get caught up in unimportant details I don’t know.

[hlthe2b]

5. I have no idea, but why would it be a Navy term? Do ships have axles?

[CTyankee]

11. The guy I heard it from was in the Seabees, the construction battalion of engineers that were

historically significant in the U.S. for their amazing abilities to build airstrips in jungles on the islands we needed to take in order to win the war in the Pacific during WW2.

[MiHale]

6. Here we go!...

Never heard it tho...


https://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/54/messages/636.html

Wrapped around the axle" - a difficult situation from which to extract oneself. Is it the horses tail or the reins? What is the origin?

You have given a definition, which is by and large consistgent with what I've seen in searching this phrase. Let me show you what the Urban Dictionary has (these 2 definitions are not provided by lexicographers, but by citizen volunteers):

1. wrapped around the axle
...
To be extremey or overly upset.

"Jordan is wrapped around the axle because he has to sit on the bench during the game."
tags bothered annoyed mad anxious ticked off
...
2. wrapped around the axle
...
To be confused by something, to the point of paralysis. Imagine driving a car over a wire fence. The fence becomes wrapped around the axle, stopping the car.

This network problem has got me wrapped around the axle.
tags confused frustrated paralyzed paralysis by analysis fubar

[dweller]

8. Isadora Duncan ?

🤔
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isadora_Duncan

✌🏻

[CTyankee]

17. Good analogy!

[Midnight Writer]

18. Thank you. I couldn't remember her name.

Now I won't have that mental itch bothering me all day.

[4Q2u2]

10. Navy 24 yrs Here

Used it all the time.
As a Sea Bee we have all kinds of axles.

[CTyankee]

13. The congressman used it in terms of getting all wrought up over something they want to keep

going as an issue such as "defund the police."

The naval officer I knew used it more like "don't get so upset about it."

How would you use it?

[4Q2u2]

14. Getting Upset and

losing focus to the point you are no longer useful

[CTyankee]

16. Exactly what he meant! He was angry that Joe Scarborough was keeping that talking point going.

I wish Scarborough had dropped it. He kinda proved the congressman's point by continuing to harp on it.

[trixie2]

12. Leonard and Sheldon TBBT?

Leonard asked Sheldon if he were not an inclined plane wrapped helically around an axle. Yep, Sheldon was screwed. Amy wanted him to meet her mother. Sheldon couldn't say, "Amy is my friend and a girl but not my girlfriend".

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

15. I never heard of it in my 72 years.

Clearly from what others have posted, it's a saying with a very limited range.

[Boxerfan]

19. Any mechanic would know intuitively. Similar to FUBAR.

A loose rag or even a iron bar can get wrapped around a axle & cause all sorts of damage. There are joints & gaps on the front / rear of a axle that can catch objects if the timing is just right. Even a rag can cause a fire or throw a bearing out.

I've heard it from way back but can't pin a source.

[Kali]

20. I don't know but it is good metaphor

Having had fence wire wrapped around an axle in a vehicle more than once in my life I can tell you it sure does slow you down and cause a lot of noise and ruckus.