[JeremyinIndy]

**Warning, half-baked theory ahead**

I always figured it went back to the old spoke-type "wood or metal thingies you put a tire around and bolt to your lugs", where you had a Hub, Spokes, and a Rim. Then with the advent of one-piece rims (Steelies, Mags, and eventually Alloys) since it was all a single piece instead of the distinct components, they just knocked it down to a single name. Wheel was already a blanket term used for absolutely everything round, so it wasn't useful to call anything that! The hub was reduced to a mounting flange, the spokes were reduced to just what's left after they punched some lightening holes in the flat disk, so the rim was the only really distinct feature left.

If you really look at a tire, the outermost part (the radial rim of the cylindrical flat plain) of it isn't a rim, it's the bead. So, while technically it absolutely IS a rim, it's not. Just like a brake Wheel cylinder IS a hydraulic slave cylinder, but if you say "Slave cylinder" everyone will assume you mean clutch, even though the "Master cylinder" is what controls your brakes.

So, in conclusion:
WHY?!?!?
Because it is.
But WHY?
It just is.
So...Why?
I don't know, he's on third, and I don't give a darn.

My big gripe is the Engine / Motor thing.
Or misspellings of stuff like "Brakes" to "Breaks".