Quote in the local newspaper from the high school state champion in the 100 yard freestyle (conducted in a 25 yard pool):
"On the third lap of my 100, I breathed twice in a row and I shouldn't have done that."
Dan
If lap didn't mean 2 lengths why do we say we "lapped" another person when we are 2 above their total?
Because a lap is typically a noun and to lap or lapped is a verb. They are two different words with similar but different meanings. You can't lap someone without another person but you can swim a lap by yourself. The distance between the two people creates the course, not the course itself. If two people start at the same time it will probably take multiple times up and down the pool before a person is lapped.
To compare, there's a bench or to bench. Similar words with similar but different meanings. He sat on a bench. Did you see what that guy benched? No, he did not pick up the bench, although he probably could have.
If lap didn't mean 2 lengths why do we say we "lapped" another person when we are 2 above their total?
Because a lap is typically a noun and to lap or lapped is a verb. They are two different words with similar but different meanings. You can't lap someone without another person but you can swim a lap by yourself. The distance between the two people creates the course, not the course itself. If two people start at the same time it will probably take multiple times up and down the pool before a person is lapped.
To compare, there's a bench or to bench. Similar words with similar but different meanings. He sat on a bench. Did you see what that guy benched? No, he did not pick up the bench, although he probably could have.
