Explain What a Wheel Is

The act of defining something so universally understood that defining it is either a philosophical exercise or a profound waste of time. This phrase is used when someone treats a basic concept as if it's esoteric knowledge, or when a manager asks for a "high-level overview" of something everyone already knows. It's the verbal equivalent of explaining what air is—you can do it, but why would you? The only people who need a wheel explained are infants, aliens, and that one coworker who somehow got hired despite never having used a computer before.

Explain What a Wheel Is Example: "At the strategy meeting, the consultant asked us to explain what a wheel is—to define our core business, our mission, our reason for existing. We'd been there for a decade. The wheel was fine. The consultant got paid $50,000 to be told what a wheel is by the people who built it. We're still angry."

by Dumu The Void February 15, 2026

Explain How a Wheel Works

The act of breaking down the mechanics of something that is intuitively obvious to anyone with functional eyesight and basic physics intuition. This phrase is deployed when someone overexplains a simple process, treating it as if it's rocket science rather than, well, a wheel. It's what happens when your friend who just took a physics class tries to explain why a ball rolls, or when a politician gives a 20-minute speech about why they support something that everyone already supports. The explanation is usually technically correct and completely unnecessary, like a detailed analysis of why water is wet.

Explain How a Wheel Works Example: "My date spent 15 minutes explaining how a wheel works—friction, rotation, axles, the whole deal. I'd asked if he wanted to go for a bike ride. He thought I needed to understand the physics before I could safely pedal. I rode home alone, understanding wheels perfectly, questioning my life choices."

by Dumu The Void February 15, 2026