Hello! I'm a newcomer to swimming laps, and I'd like everyone's input on a debate I'm having with a friend who also swims.
What is technically a lap?
I say it's based on distance. If you're in a 25m pool - then a lap is down and back. If you are in a 50m pool - then a lap is the length of the pool one way.
He says a lap is the length of a pool.
Can someone solve this battle for us?
Thanks!
Former Member
No one has asked me to count laps. I've been asked to count lengths. If they meant laps, they would have asked me to count laps, but that would be stupid because I'd have to be where they started.
However, counting lengths means you have to count lengths in twos,
otherwise you'd be running up and down the pool to announce: one, two three, four, and up to 30 (for a 1500 LCM).
We never used visible counters in the "old" days but yelled at the turns: 100, 200, three, four and up to eight, and then we would start yelling seven, six, five, four, two, go like Heck.
This is like asking me how many cubits.
This one's simple:
The English yard could be considered to be a type of cubit, measuring 12 palms, ~90 cm, or 36 inches (3.00 ft). This is the measure from the middle of a man's body to his fingers, always with outstretched arm. The English ell is essentially a kind of great cubit of 15 palms, 114 cm, or 45 inches (3.75 ft).
:bolt:
LAP - What I allow only my wife to sit on (lest she beat the bejeesus out of me)
... and SLAP is what you get if you do get caught letting someone else sit on ........... well, you know what I mean.
Among swimmers, I get the use of the word "lap" as a verb--that is, to pass someone by a circuit's worth. But the lap as a noun doesn't really compute. Don't we tend to speak in distance? 100s, 200s, etc.? I never use the term, and am always brought up short when somebody asks me, "How many laps in a mile?" This is like asking me how many cubits. I am a supporter of standard units of measure in these matters. This the problem with "lap" as a noun: is it a single or a double; is it a LC or a SC single or a double.
I vote to strike the word (lap, n.) from aquatic diction.
While I agree that this debate is meaningless in the sense that competitive swimmers generally state distance rather than laps or lengths, I grew up with the understanding that a lap was down and back whatever the course.
Matt makes a good point. Lap counters are displaying the number of lengths at the end of each lap. So aren't they "length by lap" counters really?
We already have a word for distance between one wall and the other. It seems pretty wasteful to use two words for one concept.
