Motor = anything that provides motion. Engine = any apparatus to do the
same thing. The English language was satisfied with this overlap, as well
as the many others it has (raise/rear, skill/craft) long before anything
ever ran on gasoline or electricity.

I am satisfied with the duplication as well.

Artificial distinctions tend to be nothing more than distancing
terminology. Let them laugh!

Jim

On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 12:25 PM, JRodgers <jrodgers113@gmail.com> wrote:

> For the average guy on the street - motor vs engine prol'ly makes no
> difference. But if you are going to make a formal presentation in front
> of the pros at the Society of Automotive Engineers - then you had better
> have it exactingly perfect or if  you are speaking to a room  full of
> physicists about nuclear fusion - you had better have the language and
> definitions exactly right -- or you will be laughed right out of the
> room. So obviously - there is a time and place to have it exactingly
> perfect for proper communication in clear concise terms. No room for
> mis-interpretations in the language.
>
> John
>
>
> On 4/11/2013 11:53 AM, Don Hanson wrote:
>
>>    I expect people to use proper terms. It certainly helps, when trying to
>> convey a meaning...  I don't think it is being asinine when you correct
>> someone or question a wrong term, even when you may know what the person
>> is
>> trying to say..
>>
>> If someone doesn't really know the proper word meaning, it's helpful to
>> clue them in...if they do know the difference and choose to use an
>> improper
>> term...they are the ones being lame....
>>
>>    That all being said....Many people don't choose to pay  much attention
>> to
>> how they communicate.  Rims for wheels?...that is a pretty mild
>> error....motor for engine?...Bus for Vanagon?...
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Apr 11, 2013 at 8:50 AM, Loren Busch <starwagen@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>  RE: "Motor" vs "Engine"
>>> Thank you Tom Thank you, thank you.  Welcome to the 'cringe' crowd, those
>>> that cringe when motor is used to talk about an engine.  But never the
>>> other way around!
>>>
>>>
>>