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Here it is:

It has been said that a MOTOR is electric powered and an ENGINE is internal combustion.

WHY do so many people call ENGINES MOTORS ??????

Why is it MOTOR Sports ????

Why is it a MOTORcycle with a Gas ENGINE ????


:wink: :confused2: :confused3: :anyone:

"Engines" are heat/combustion.

"Motors" are heat/combution OR electric.

I believe the proper term is "electric motor" to make the distinction.

World Wide Words: Engine and Motor

One view point ! :thumbsup:

Motors or Engine, now a days both are too expensive to run.:laughing:

BKBrown said:

World Wide Words: Engine and Motor

One view point ! :thumbsup:

Click to expand...

They didn't really come down one way or another, but did raise some interesting points.

I think it's safe to say that, given the etymology and modern usage, "Engine" infers combustion only, while "Motor" infers either combustion engine or electric motor depending on context.

BKBrown said:

World Wide Words: Engine and Motor

One view point ! :thumbsup:

Click to expand...

I've been interested in word origins for a long time so that website will make a welcome addition to my bookmarks. Thanks for the tip.

I like the way to two words had different origins but meandered across the same territory for decades so now they're more or less synonyms.

Its kinda like racist and bigot. Two separate meanings, yet through ignorant misuse racist is commonly used in place of bigot. Also, where does a Steam Engine fit into this? Its neither electric nor combustion.

In Europe they call tires & wheels "motors":laughing:, seen it on wheeler dealers.

It's a motor in a Model T and an engine in a Corvette.....Go Figure :confused2:

Our Electronics professor was angry if anyone called an internal combustion engine a "motor" !

Oddball said:

Its kinda like racist and bigot. Two separate meanings, yet through ignorant misuse racist is commonly uesd in place of bigot. Also, where does a Steam Engine fit into this? Its neither electric or internal combustion. No, but it does burn fuel as the source of it's power and the expanding steam pushes a piston.

Click to expand...

I call an internal combustion engine, an engine!

And electric motors, motors.

I do occasionally refer to an engine as a motor, but not a lot.

BKBrown said:

Here it is:

It has been said that a MOTOR is electric powered and an ENGINE is internal combustion.

WHY do so many people call ENGINES MOTORS ??????

Why is it MOTOR Sports ????

Why is it a MOTORcycle with a Gas ENGINE ????


:wink: :confused2: :confused3: :anyone:

Click to expand...

Are you implying that those of us that occasionally interchange the motor and engine designation are ignorant fools, and those who use them "correctly" are learned fools? :wink:

What about an engine lathe? That's powered by an electric motor! Where's the 'engine' in "engine lathe"?

FYI, an "engine" can also pull cars down a railroad track.....:wink: and they were around BEFORE internal combustion....correct? The moniker 'engine' was stolen from "STEAM engine"...:laughing:....so the word 'engine' itself is a total bastardization, because they didn't know what else to call it. So, I see no problem using another word, motor, to describe them. :biggrin:

Your teacher roots are showing, BK.....:laughing:

EDIT: "Engine lathe" probably refers to when these things came out - the geared lathe, and were powered by a steam engine and wide belt, like every piece of power equipment was during the industrial revolution. Also, although the thing that pulls cars down a track is an "engine", it is not JUST the steam engine - it is a frame, wheels, controls, etc......

In general, people who get hung up on this kinda thing annoy me (it's kinda elitist hair-splitting) - but I annoy them back by continuing to do it...:biggrin:

I gotta go start the motor on my mower now.....:tongue:

Not implying or inferring anything -- just asking to promote conversation (keyboarding or entering answers). :biggrin:

LIKE, I'm not DONE I'm Finished. Done is cooked, Finished is completed !

That's not the teacher, it's the student that had those things drummed into me !

BKBrown said:

Not implying or inferring anything -- just asking to promote conversation (keyboarding or entering answers). :biggrin:

LIKE, I'm not DONE I'm Finished. Done is cooked, Finished is completed !

That's not the teacher, it's the student that had those things drummed into me !

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Actually, 'done' is a southern US adverb.......

"I'm done finished".

"I'm done goin to the mawl........"

"I'm gonna done wreck his dumb a$$"

Etc, etc, etc,

:biggrin:

I done it - we done it - he done it - she done it - they done it - we all done it - Y'all !

Y'all done went n did it this time !

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

BKBrown said:

I done it - we done it - he done it - she done it - they done it - we all done it - Y'all !

Y'all done went n did it this time !

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

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Done, (or correctly spelled, dun) I take it is interchangeacle with it's northern cousin "fer real". Although, 'fer real' is more often used AFTER the verb, rather than before it, as in 'dun' (and is, more often than not, accompanied by 'like').

Example - Southern: I'm dun goin to the m'all, y'all"

Northern: Im going to the mall, like, fer REAL today. ("So" may be inserted before the verb for intensity's sake....aka I'm SO goin to the mall, like for REAL today)

Simply added as intensifiers to the spice we add to the English language, when we either can't find the correct word, or just need a verbal pause - so no one else can get a word in edgewise (cause we're still making noise).

So should we now refer to Detroit as "Engine City"?

QUOTE=twall;22004]Actually, 'done' is a southern US adverb.......[/QUOTE]

Ain't no dang adverb! It's a genuine, honest-to-gawd verb - past tense of "to do". As in - "I done it". When you expand on what it is (that thing you actually done), then you get something like "I done [went and fixed that motor]".

:wink:

It's filler, 's what it is. Stuck all unparticular-like into the middle of a sentence to take up slack, as you say. Fer real. Ayuh.

Aayup - allus shuda bin ! :tongue:

indypower said:

So should we now refer to Detroit as "Engine City"?

Click to expand...

BKBrown said:

Aayup - allus shuda bin ! :tongue:

Click to expand...

No no no.....it's "internal combustion engine city" to differentiate from "steam engine city" if you'd like to REALLY split some hairs.........

I personally think "MOTOR city" works just fine, the perfectionists be damned!

It's perfectly fine with me if it is called The Motor City !

I just sarted this to see if it was only me who wondered about this !

I guess I'm not the only one ! :thumbsup:

BKBrown said:

It's perfectly fine with me if it is called The Motor City !

I just sarted this to see if it was only me who wondered about this !

I guess I'm not the only one ! :thumbsup:

Click to expand...

I've heard it a lot. "it's not a motor - it's an engine".....coming from some elitist snob who never saw a grain of grit in his manicured salesman-fingernails in his life!

That is in no way a slam against you, BK...I've just heard this before......and it wasn't pretty (my response to said elitist, anyway - and the stain the experience left).

Good thread! :thumbsup:

BKBrown said:

a MOTOR is electric powered and an ENGINE is internal combustion.

Click to expand...

I agree with that statement. Although, when you watch old TV shows they almost always call the engine a motor. I wonder if it's an old-fashioned thing? :wink: Also, do you ever hear anybody call an electric motor an engine?

CompactTractorFan said:

I agree with that statement. Although, when you watch old TV shows they almost always call the engine a motor. I wonder if it's an old-fashioned thing? :wink: Also, do you ever hear anybody call an electric motor an engine?

Click to expand...

When it's in an ENGINE lathe, yes.

As long as they run,Who cares what one calls them.
Now why would they call an engineer an engineer,it s a human?

Sounds like the "What is a screw and what is a bolt?" debate (keep it clean). :laughing: Many people will have definite distinctions between the two, but those distinctions won't be the same.

Well I thought I would look up the meaning and origins of both words and on my computer. I used Google which is a.........
SEARCH ENGINE.:licking::confused2:could be search motor.

My great father taught me a ryme many, many years ago: "A motor runs an electric train, an engine runs an air-o-plane".

BigEd said:

My great father taught me a ryme many, many years ago: "A motor runs an electric train, an engine runs an air-o-plane".

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That's clever! :laughing: You never do forget those little rhymes...

There was a young man from Nantucket.....

I used to call the thing in my car an engine, now I call it a motor.....still runs the same.

George G said:

I used to call the thing in my car an engine, now I call it a motor.....still runs the same.

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A friend of mine, when referring to 'the thing in my car' , is now talking about his X wife...

I remind him it is no longer his car... that's when he uses other adjectives to refer to her and the car... :smile:KennyV

BKBrown said:

World Wide Words: Engine and Motor

One view point ! :thumbsup:

Click to expand...

A motor is what propels your mode of transportation....An engine wears a feather in his headband and points you in the right direction of travel!!!:laughing:

I guess it also depends on the region your in.

Fwiw, (just adding to the discussion), .... General Motors, .... Ford Motor Company, .... Chrysler Motors Corporation :smile:

thehemikid said:

Fwiw, (just adding to the discussion), .... General Motors, .... Ford Motor Company, .... Chrysler Motors Corporation :smile:

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UMMM...so many cars with warning lites on the dash have one that says "Check engine" but has anybody ever seen a warning lite that says "Check motor"?

I rest my case.

Ever hear many guys in NASCAR refer to it as anything BUT "the motor"?

"Well, we gave 'er a good run fer it, but thar in turn three, sumthin' went wrong, and we dun blowed the motor.....think we musta busted tha oal line."

Click to expand...

- Bill Elliot

If Elliot calls it a 'Motor', guess it's official!

twall said:

Ever hear many guys in NASCAR refer to it as anything BUT "the motor"?


- Bill Elliot

If Elliot calls it a 'Motor', guess it's official!

Click to expand...

Who is Bill Elliot? Oh yes, one of them southern rednecks like the Dixie Choppers. Goes to show how much the rednecks know....

Excuse me I gotta go work on the MOTOR of my shop vac then I gotta tune the ENGINE on my truck and well, you get the idea.

Electric=motor
Internal combustion=engine

With your salty fingers, you have 'poor language skills' - so your opinion means squat. :biggrin:

twall said:

With your salty fingers, you have 'poor language skills' - so your opinion means squat. :biggrin:

Click to expand...

Don't get me started on this but, "ENGINE" HAS to mean a source of propulsion which is NOT electric, such as a motor.

Has anybody here EVER, I repeat EVER, heard or used the term "STEAM MOTOR?"

GOTCHA !!!!!! Squat down and kiss my behind.

I agree with the use of "Engine" for the internal combustion & steam engine, I feel it's proper. I was adding to the discussion how the car companies referred to themselves, ...but even I myself have used the words interchangeably,... as whichever one felt comfortable at the moment.

I looked both up in The American Century Dictionary,both were used to describe the other...russ

173abn said:

I looked both up in The American Century Dictionary,both were used to describe the other...russ

Click to expand...

Do tell....I am gonna go to Google to learn what a dictionary is.....:laughing::laughing::laughing:

BTW, I have a dictionary about ten feet from my laptop, but when I want to look up the meaning of a word and the laptop is on, I do it thru Google online, or if the laptop is off, I use my Blackberry browser instead of the hard copy dictionary. I wonder sometimes just how long ago there were salespeople going door to door trying to convince people to buy encyclopedia sets....probably zero job growth in that field today.