I'm not even sure why and dignify me with a response but you just stated your opinion is fact. also as I mentioned in previous posts I'm not the only 1 teaching the swimmers convention for lap=1length. i've met a few olympians that use that convention. in fact I have not met a single 1 that doesnt.

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I am not teaching any kids. I agree with you.......Your rplying to the wrong person I think

as I mentioned before, the english language allows us to have different meanings of different contextS. I'm not asking anybody change the dictionary definition of lap, in fact if you were to google it you would find the dictionary.com offers 10+ definitions of the word lap. is a word that has a differentmeaning in many different contexts.

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I'm not trying to defend anything just commenting on MI-Mumps post. I believe what your saying... and that a lot of the swim team community defines it that way. I was on swim team for a few years in grade school and don't recall....... I've always thought that a lap was down and back..... so if they were saying otherwise it didn't stick.
Since I'm not coaching anyone....... do my distances in yards or meters it's never been an issue. ( just 1/2 the number you would count for the distance ) I would say it's more intuitively obvious for people to think a lap is down and back. If it weren’t I don't think there would be this problem. I can't think of another circuit defining term that causes this much confusion

I think the problem, small though it is, stems from the use of a pre-defined word to describe something similar yet different. Almost a colloquialism, where the word is used in everyday speech but not correct in it's formal state.

The term lap comes from Old English 'lappen', refering to a piece of cloth that doubles back on itself, such as a lapel for example . This doubling back would also insinuate that a lap should be a return to source rather than just one way. The word lap, in English language, is used to describe a circuit. This would also include the out and back in a pool length. (Your own physical 'lap' is effectively where clothing - robes skirts etc, overlaps - hence the name lap)

However, the terminology has been taken and altered with regards to swimming, the Olympic Rules dictating that a lap is a single length of the pool.

Bearing in mind the generally accepted habit of altering the definition of words in the English language to use in a niche setting (i.e. Swimming) then I think the correct term should be 'Lap' for a single length of the pool.

Lap is not the correct term when looking at the English language but it is the correct term for it's niche role in relation to swimming when using the Olympic Rulebook as a standard. If you are using other standards then I guess that meaning applies.

As you can probably tell I looked up some of this, not previously being an expert in the word 'lap'.

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To: Lap is not the correct term when looking at the English language but it is the correct term for it's niche role in relation to swimming when using the Olympic Rulebook as a standard. If you are using other standards then I guess that meaning applies.
This is an excellent articulation of the matter........Great job

Please consider me an "exception" to your "rule."


At the start of a 200 yard freestyle in a scy pool, the starter says "swimmers will swim 8 lengths of the pool." If a length were equal to a lap, they would say "swimmers will swim 8 laps of the pool." But they don't, now, do they?


Additionally, when you run around a track, you run a LAP from your start point all around back to where you started. A lap in the pool is the same thing

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

TI isn't ST acceptable.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

pun intended?

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

NO ONE swims long course yards.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Or, their race is one length.

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Kind of like drag racers doing laps?

Umm, no. Length= here to there, Lap= here, there, and back.

Next topic.

It's also just as easy to say "3 lengths easy, 2 lengths fast, 3 laps easy."

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

A track and a pool are both in Euclidean space :D

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

This ^^

(although I am now convinced that the lap=length at least has some merit amongst swimmers, even if it is ridiculous - good job ST!)

Oh yeah - Go Heels!

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Aaron Bales
Lansing Triathlon Team

There we go. MarkyV is fish extrordinare (sp).

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

Rappstar has an engineering degree from Princeton, so he should be able to verify this

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IG: idking90

My dad always tried to correct me in the 'proper' use of lap (one round-trip) when I used in in a swimming context (2 laps = a 50)... I tried to explain to him that all the swimmers know what we mean, and if he's confused it just shows that he's not a swimmer. None of us swimmers have any trouble making the switch to counting full-circuit laps when we go to a track. It's just idiomatic, like other bits of jargon that are used peculiarly in a specific context.

I'll give you one practical bit of distinction that might resonate for a non-swimmer... if you count laps like a swimmer, then odds are always facing one way and evens returning the opposite direction so if you start to get fuzzy it's usually easier to catch it and correct it before you're off by 2, whereas if you count laps like a runner it's a lot easier to lose count when doing, say, 400s or longer... e.g., if you catch yourself coming off the turn at the shallow (starting) end and the count in your head is on 12, then you know right away you forgot to advance the count to 13 since 12 has to be facing the other way, whereas if you were counting by 'runners' laps and you start to doubt yourself on lap 6 you could be wrong for the whole lap and there's no way of catching it because it's the same in both directions.

The flipturns wisecrack is very telling... I don't know anyone who does flipturns (worth a crap at least) who still insists on counting laps like a non-swimmer. Maybe the non-swimmers should worry about that instead so they can pass the 'club' test instead of trying to convince swimmers our jargon is improper.

Another iimportant linguistic question is when do you eat Dinner? at noon time or early evening? When there is room for confusion, it is better to be clear, lengths is more clear. FYI, the answer is Breakfast, lunch and supper for the meals debate that is sure to start.

the swimmer hath spoken. debate over :)

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36 kona qualifiers 2006-'23 - 3 Kona Podiums - 4 OA IM AG wins - 5 IM AG wins - 18 70.3 AG wins
I ka nana no a 'ike -- by observing, one learns | Kulia i ka nu'u -- strive for excellence
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When this is finished and decided, could you please tell everyone that a stroke is "1" arm pull and not "2"!! Always gets me when some adult onset swimmer gets on here and says that they take 11 strokes per lap, I MEAN LENGHT!!!

Swimmers count by metres or yards not by lap/length...

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2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

back in the day there was a few LCY pools but they were 55 yards (=50.29 metres)

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http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

Moronic. I've been swimming about as far back as I can remember and avoid "lap" due to its ambiguity. Stick to distance and you avoid all that elitist nonsense.

maybe regional then? I swam with plenty of distance swimmers... nobody counted any different, they just counted higher. Again, 'Laps' were only ever a debate/question/ambiguity when non-swimmers entered the mix.