This is happening.
This came up the other day at tri club practice, and being a lifelong swimmer, I assigned the set in yardage, but gave a "lap" equivalent for the beginners in the group because I've found that many beginners have a hard time mentally/physically processing what it means to swim a 100, or a 200. Some people confused the matter by perpetuating the notion that they acquired in their PE swimming class here at NC State that a "lap" consisted of 50yd in our 25yd pool. I am frustrated that this idea persists and introduces confusion, so here is my take:
Since the debate specifically concerns the meaning of the word "lap" as it applies to swimming, why not defer to the meaning connoted by the majority of true swimmers? For anyone that grew up swimming club/year-round or even summer league and high school programs in the United States (so far I have found zero exceptions, but that doesn't mean there aren't any), one lap in swimming is equal to the distance between the two ends of the pool. A lap in a 25yd pool is 25yd, a lap in a 50m pool is 50m, and that is that. There are plenty of words that carry different meanings in different sports, or apply in one way to one sport, but not to another, so I propose that everyone should accept what some people believe to be a nuanced meaning to the word "lap."
Can we say, for the sake of eliminating confusion, that the word "lap" is interchangeable with "length" for the purposes of defining swimming distances (at least here in the US)?
__________________________
I tweet!
This came up the other day at tri club practice, and being a lifelong swimmer, I assigned the set in yardage, but gave a "lap" equivalent for the beginners in the group because I've found that many beginners have a hard time mentally/physically processing what it means to swim a 100, or a 200. Some people confused the matter by perpetuating the notion that they acquired in their PE swimming class here at NC State that a "lap" consisted of 50yd in our 25yd pool. I am frustrated that this idea persists and introduces confusion, so here is my take:
Since the debate specifically concerns the meaning of the word "lap" as it applies to swimming, why not defer to the meaning connoted by the majority of true swimmers? For anyone that grew up swimming club/year-round or even summer league and high school programs in the United States (so far I have found zero exceptions, but that doesn't mean there aren't any), one lap in swimming is equal to the distance between the two ends of the pool. A lap in a 25yd pool is 25yd, a lap in a 50m pool is 50m, and that is that. There are plenty of words that carry different meanings in different sports, or apply in one way to one sport, but not to another, so I propose that everyone should accept what some people believe to be a nuanced meaning to the word "lap."
Can we say, for the sake of eliminating confusion, that the word "lap" is interchangeable with "length" for the purposes of defining swimming distances (at least here in the US)?
__________________________
I tweet!