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Pet Peeve... "Motor"

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Old 07-15-2007 | 09:04 AM
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Default Pet Peeve... "Motor"

I saw it in the paper this morning. The context was an airport neighbor talking about how she gets a-scared whenever she hears "those airplane motors."

But it's not just a lay-people thing. I hear a lot of fellow pilots saying it.

It's an ENGINE!!! ENGINE!!! ENGINE!!!

Does this bother anyone else, or do I have mild OCD?
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Old 07-15-2007 | 09:24 AM
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I'd have to say you have OCD

Webster's says a motor is "any of various power units that develop energy or impart motion". So that would make an engine a type of motor. It'd be like calling a square a rectangle, or hot air balloon an aircraft.

Now don't get me started on people calling bison "buffalos", or chimpanzee's "monkeys". They're not. Get it right people!
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Old 07-15-2007 | 09:26 AM
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OCD... Maybe.... I might get a little miffed if I heard a fellow pilot calling it a motor... Or the ASI a Speedometer... Maybe I'm OCD too...
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Old 07-15-2007 | 11:00 AM
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Fords are the only things that have "motors" haha.
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Old 07-15-2007 | 11:37 AM
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Originally Posted by PFGiardino
Does this bother anyone else
Odd, I was just wondering the same thing while riding home from work on my enginecycle.
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Old 07-15-2007 | 04:01 PM
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Remember when you were flying piston powered airplanes? If it had a gold powerplant, it was manufactured by Teledyne Continental Motors. I've always been of the opinion that if that's what the factory calls it, I can too..
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Old 07-15-2007 | 04:34 PM
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A motor converts potential energy into mechanic work (usually rotational). Hydraulic and electrical motors arre common.

An engine converts chemical/thermodynamic energy into mechanical work...by definition it uses fuel of some sort.

Vacuum cleaners have motors. Cars and airplanes have engines.
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Old 07-15-2007 | 08:31 PM
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Originally Posted by rickair7777
A motor converts potential energy into mechanic work (usually rotational). Hydraulic and electrical motors arre common.

An engine converts chemical/thermodynamic energy into mechanical work...by definition it uses fuel of some sort.

Vacuum cleaners have motors. Cars and airplanes have engines.
Took the words right out of my mouth.

-Ben
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Old 07-16-2007 | 08:21 AM
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How about when they call the TCAS "the fish finder"...

that's a little annoying. :-P
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Old 07-16-2007 | 10:03 AM
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Originally Posted by rickair7777
A motor converts potential energy into mechanic work (usually rotational). Hydraulic and electrical motors arre common.

An engine converts chemical/thermodynamic energy into mechanical work...by definition it uses fuel of some sort.

Vacuum cleaners have motors. Cars and airplanes have engines.
You do realize that chemical and thermodynamic energy IS potential energy, right? Thus making making engines motors?
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