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John Doe John Doe is offline
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First recorded activity by BoatBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 16
Default OT Semantics of "2-cycle" versus "2-stroke"

David T. Ashley dashley gmail.com wrote:

John Doe wrote:

I'm looking at gas/petrol stabilizers, Sea Foam and STA-BIL.

On their FAQ page, both of them refer to a "2-stroke" engine as
a "2-cycle" engine.

Uhg.

It's only semantics, but you would think that those
manufacturers would know the difference between a "stroke" and a
"cycle".

Per Merriam-Webster...

stroke:
the movement in either direction of a mechanical part (as a
piston) having a reciprocating motion; also : the distance of
such movement

cycle:
a course or series of events or operations that recur
regularly and usually lead back to the starting point


"2-stroke" "4-stroke" engine

About 3,270,000 results

"2-cycle" "4-cycle" engine

About 427,000 results (0.48 seconds)

Using "cycle" is not a big deal for casual speakers, but besides
being less popular, it's semantical nonsense.


I believe that using "4-stroke cycle" is more correct than
either 4-stroke or 4-cycle. It takes 4 strokes to make a cycle.


I'm not talking about technical correctness, I'm referring to
a significant semantical blunder.

What matters is the number of strokes per cycle. The number of
cycles is irrelevant.

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Until you get to Wankel engines, in which case I don't think
there is anything stroking.

DTA