Your definition of "a lap"?

Every coach I have ever had referred to one length as a lap. So that's how I use the word..... But people, and it's almost always people who never swam on a team (at least in my limited experience) insist on referring to a lap as a "down and back" and it just confuses me. Same here. I have never had to clarify that a lap is one length to anyone who has had experience with competitive swimming. I like the definitions that Jim posted. I go with the second highlighted one defining the noun "lap" as one length.

As someone mentioned last time around, if you think a lap is one length, then how come you need to be two lengths ahead of someone to "lap" them? Then again people use a "lap counter" in distance races and that counts number of lengths. In other words contradictions abound. My opinion has always been the term lap has no place in swimming and don't think people who swim a lot generally use the term. If someone (non-swimmer) asks me how many laps I typically swim a day I will always tell them "x lengths." The term lengths has no ambiguity. Why would you ever use the term "lap" when it's pretty clear from the poll that it's very split as to what the definition of a lap is?

I think of a lap as one complete coverage of the course. On a track that is all the way around. Once you arrive where you started, you have completed one unit. In a pool once you get to the other wall you have completed one unit. I think a lap logically means to traverse a course until there is a distinguishable point of repetition. On circular courses, a lap ends when you come back to the starting point. In swimming it is one length because you come to the wall and turning around to swim back is "repeating" the course. I tend to agree with these. I didn't have an answer (that's why I wanted to see the poll), but now I find these interpretations have good basis, because: if you define a lap in a rectangular pool to be a round trip, i.e. the distance you swim back to the starting point, who knows how you swim in the middle? You could swim zigzag before reaching the other end, or you could swim only halfway then turn back... How would you define a lap in a triangular pool? or any polygon-shaped pool? :rolleyes:

As someone mentioned last time around, if you think a lap is one length, then how come you need to be two lengths ahead of someone to "lap" them? Then again people use a "lap counter" in distance races and that counts number of lengths. In other words contradictions abound. My opinion has always been the term lap has no place in swimming and don't think people who swim a lot generally use the term. If someone (non-swimmer) asks me how many laps I typically swim a day I will always tell them "x lengths." The term lengths has no ambiguity. Why would you ever use the term "lap" when it's pretty clear from the poll that it's very split as to what the definition of a lap is? There's an easy answer. I'll steal from Jim's definition post: One is a verb: "To get ahead of (an opponent) in a race by one or more complete circuits of the course, as in running, or by two or more lengths of pool in swimming." So, you can "lap" the other swimmers in your heat by getting a 50 or more ahead. The other is a noun: "One complete length of a straight course, as of a swimming pool." So, you can use your "lap" counter to count how many straight courses a swimmer has swum. Makes sense to me.

We are in dead heat, 18:18 now.

Actually what prompted me to ask the question is not how I use the word--I can always be more specific. It's for me to know what others mean to say, when they say "I can swim ___ laps in ___ minutes", so that I would not feel unduly proud or unnecessarily discouraged. :)

A lap is one length of the pool, because it sounds more impressive when you're bragging to a non-swimming friend about how much length you achieved. :banana:

Is this the first time "lap dance" has appeared in a swim forum?:applaud: No - it has probably appeared in a number of the forums that discuss Michael Phelps' social life. -LBJ

When I think of a lap I think of returning to the point I started at. Although, I don't count how many "laps" I've done...I just count in meters/yards.

Everywhere I swam growing up, a lap was a single length, ie: 50 yard free in a shortcourse pool is 2 laps. This was never taught or defined, it was just, you learned quickly that when told to do a 100 and someone asked, "how many laps is that", the answer would be 4. I think a lap logically means to traverse a course until there is a distinguishable point of repetition. On circular courses, a lap ends when you come back to the starting point. In swimming it is one length because you come to the wall and turning around to swim back is "repeating" the course. If pools were circular, I am sure a lap would be coming back where you started.