It always surprises me to see people refer to their convertible as a "ragtop." I know it's a cute, down-homey kind of word, but I cringe whenever I see it. Rags are things you wipe up the dog vomit with.

I have a '67 Delta 88 convertible. It is not a ragtop. I have never used the term to describe the car, and I never will. It is way too classy a vehicle for that.

 

I'll sign on to your campaign if you'll sign on to mine to ban the use of the word "dizzy" as a noun.

- Eric

 

Show me where to sign!

 

Let's not forget "tranny."

 

Yes, there are many words that should be banished, and I couldn't agree more about this one. But one has to pick one's battles. I'm starting with ragtop.

 

I have no problem with that word, so long as it is referring to something made of flesh and silicone, and not steel and aluminum.

- Eric

 

Too many intellectuals and such banning the meanings of how we speak, kinda Isis like to me. Let the flaming began....Tedd

 

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but I've never seen you refer to any part of an engine as a "dizzy."

Nyah.

- Eric

 

To many z for me, but that's just me, no banning going on here....Tedd

 

So are you planning to institute bans on "drop top" or "vert" too? I have no issues with you banning some words from your on line contributions, but I'll use whichever ones I choose, including ragtop. There are far more language issues that cause some degree of confusion than targeting words that almost everyone in the hobby uses conversationally, and you'll never change that either.

Since neither of you use the word 'ragtop' I fail to see why this is even an issue. Far as I know C.O. doesn't have a language / spelling police moderator. What a useless thread.

 

"drophead coupe' " is the correct term, no?

At least you can see the origin of "dizzy" - it spins around and around, which as we all know makes one dizzy. Oh the colorful magazine language! the dizzy is not "installed" - it is "stabbed in."

The cam is a bumpstick.

Then there is Factory Speak where your car has no dipstick or driveshaft. That's an indicator [oil level] and propeller shaft. Where is the propeller? Is this a DUKW?

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=...83339334,d.aWw

I suppose everything annoys SOMEONE. I am so lazy I abbreviate distributor as dist'r and exhaust as xst on many an occasion. Really I get tired of backspacing to do it right, over and over.

 

That's "drophead coupè" to you.


I hate that one, too. All of those dumba$$ terms is one reason why I seldom read those articles.


But the funny thing is that SOMEONE's other name is "Jaunty."

- Eric

 

Does anyone else see what I see, so there is a SITE ISSUE??

or is this just MY COMPUTER messing up?

Actual screen captures from just after posting the above.

Weirder yet
as of 219 pm now the site / computer shows me the correct text as entered.

 

Whoa. That's weird.

My first guess is it's a browser problem. Try using a different one and see what it does.

- Eric

 

I like the word RAGTOP and my plate on my "ragtop" is 63 RAG

 

Most of the convertible cars I have owned, began as convertible to the original owner. By the time they made it to me, they truly were "ragtops".


Many of the articles I read though, do bother me somewhat. "With the blah-blah dizzy turning in time with the blah-blah bumpstick, it's going to need a little more than the stock powerglide tranny, to get that much power to the ground."

 

To me "Cutty" is another that does not work. It is "Cutlass"

Gene

 

Allan, don't put words in my mouth. I said nothing about these terms, only ragtop.

I don't give a whit what you do. This thread was started about my New Year's resolution, not yours.

 

Agreed, but "Cutty" is more stupid than it is derogatory. "Ragtop" is a degrading term.

 

What comes to my mind when I hear the term "ragtop."

i.e., the top is in rags or is ragged.




It's not a flattering description.

 

Here's the '70 Cutlass I drove in college:



Poncho was mandatory in the rain.



- Eric

 

Of course I should have realized that. Go ahead and banish whatever you want from your vocabulary and posting words. New Years resolutions are all crap anyway. I don't make them and I'll continue posting whatever I feel like, same as you.

 

I love this site.So colorful.

 

I don't like Cutty, dizzy or motor when referencing a internal combustion engine.
A motor requires an outside source of power, electric, steam or hydraulic.
A engine takes in fuel and converts it to power.
But in a free world you can call it what you want even if you are wrong.

 

Ditto.
Too many pseudo-intellectuals.
If you need something to fret about, at least make it something important.

 

??? I'm absolutely positive that with a little buffing that will come out looking like new.

BTW, Poncho??
Poncho = Pontiac as Chebby = Chevrolet

Yeah I know that it's also synonymous with loosely draped rain apparel. It appears you've always had a liking for a specific color shade....

 

Tedd and Allan, you guys are great. This site covers the entire USA, Canada and a number of foreign countries. To think everybody is going to use the same terminology and grammar would be ridiculous. Of course I have my 54 ragtop but I also still have my 72 Cutty ragtop with the 350 tranny and 350 motor. I will probably sell it this year but now I am concerned as to how to list it. Maybe I will have to do multiple listings.

 

I always thought this was a distinction without a difference.

If it's supposed to be "engine" instead of motor, they why isn't it General "Engines" instead of General Motors? Or Ford "Engine" Company instead of Ford Motor Company?



Besides, I don't think this supposed difference between "motor" and "engine" is universally accepted.


From Merriam-Webster. Note the very bottom, under synonyms. But note also under #2. A motor is a small compact engine. An internal combustion engine.


Full Definition of MOTOR
1
: one that imparts motion; specifically : prime mover
2
: any of various power units that develop energy or impart motion: as
a : a small compact engine
b : internal combustion engine; especially : a gasoline engine
c : a rotating machine that transforms electrical energy into mechanical energy
3
: motor vehicle; especially : automobile
— mo·tor·dom noun
— mo·tor·less adjective
See motor defined for English-language learners »
See motor defined for kids »
Examples of MOTOR

<the device was equipped with a small electrical motor to make the gears spin>
<went shopping for a new automobile at Valley Motors>

Origin of MOTOR
Latin, from movēre to move
First Known Use: 1586
Related to MOTOR

Synonyms
machine, engine



From Oxford. The definition of "motor."

A machine, especially one powered by electricity or internal combustion, that supplies motive power for a vehicle or for some other device with moving parts.


It says "powered by...internal combustion." It doesn't say that the internal combustion part is external to the motor. The motor itself can use internal combustion.



The bottom line is that "motor" and "engine" are interchangeable terms.

 

I meant the rain gear, of course, but I do use those spellings to refer to certain other makes (I also use "F_rd").
I do this specifically to throw off search engines and 'bots: the fewer references there are to specific overly-popular brands, the less likely that those who don;t block ads will be inundated by irrelevant brand-specific advertising, and the fewer people will be dumped off here when they're actually looking for information about different cars.

I don't bother for Cadillac, Buick, and several others because they're not in the same overwhelmingly popular category, there is less focused brand-specific advertising out there for them, and because their owners have fewer specific sources for information and may actually be happy to be linked here from a search.

- Eric

 

It's kind of like screws and bolts.
Technically, a bolt goes through a part and out the other side, where it is fastened with a nut, while a screw goes into a threaded hole, but common usage calls both fasteners bolts.


Those names were created at the dawn of the automobile, which, at the time, was called a "motor car."
I think the distinction is largely made in the engineering world, though, and is understood by very few outside of it.
If you look in places where words are used very precisely, though, like the Parts Manual, I don't think you'll find the two words interchanged.

- Eric

 

It covers the entire world, actually. No one said that everyone would use the same terminology.

Do you have anything better to do than snipe? There's that old man bitterness shining through again.

 

Fine. I think quite a few people still call them motor cars.

As just two examples, DeLorean "Motor" Company was founded in 1975.
Tesla "Motors" was founded in 2003. If this distinction was unknown to the founders of GM and Ford, it certainly should have been known by the latter part of the last century or the early part of this one.

Yet we didn't see the DeLorean "Engine" Company and don't see the Tesla "Engine" Company.

 

Tesla doesn't use an engine. It uses a motor.

And the expression "Motor Company" was coined over a hundred years ago, and has stuck, so it is no longer a question of the exact definition of the words, "Motor Company" is a phrase with its own meaning and connotations, separate from its component parts.

- Eric

 

I'm probably the worst person to talk to in person be,cause my terminology is horrible. Not that I don't know it but I talk a million words a minute and don't slow down lol. Is ragtop really that bad , it seems there is too many crabby people. Say this don't say that , spell check it or don't waste our valuable bandwidth. In a world where the saying "human error" exist's aren't we expected to make mistakes , misspell , use our on unique terminology ? I guess we have to be bland robots or to some those slight little details are annoying enough to rant on about it. Its the same people complaining about the same thing. The internet is already pauged with horrible info why would spelling , and terminology matter since the internet is already questionable. My 2015 resolution is to tell people to F OFF a lot more. To prove how stupid this thread is ask 20 people how they pee ? I bet you will get 20 diffrent answers and procedures will be left out . Some of us use words diffrently or use diffrent words for certain things. Just ask people down south how the say creek.

 

Some of us just like the occasional argument. I will forgive the usage of motor if I can call my vert a ragtop.

 

"It's kind of like screws and bolts.
Technically, a bolt goes through a part and out the other side, where it is fastened with a nut, while a screw goes into a threaded hole, but common usage calls both fasteners bolts."
====================
When I buy a pack of small oh say #10 machine SCREWS at the store, they come with nuts. Those must be for some other small fastener.

There is no end to the confusion.
A nut is naught but a portable threaded hole.

At what size does round long skinny stuff change from wire to rod?

 

Interesting thread. To my mechanical engineering trained and automotive engineering employed mind, an engine is something that creates mechanical power using heat. Rocket engine, steam engine, gasoline engine, diesel engine. This is as opposed to a boiler or a burner. A motor is something that takes some sort of non-mechanical energy and converts it into mechanical energy, usually shaft power. So, an engine is a type of motor. Saying motor oil is correct, but you could be referring to what you put in your Hunter fan or your Olds. Engine oil would be for just the Olds.

Of course, the long used term for a marine outboard motor, or engine, is kicker, and I've never had an explanation for that one.

I deplore tranny and cutty. Oldsmobile is abbreviated Olds; the only -y one allowed is Chevy, since it's been done forever and universally. Chebby is a derogatory term used by bitter people who are hurt that their GM division got canned and Chevrolet did not. Of course, I have very little use for car rivalries in general. I like all cars, and all guns. I have used Poncho before, but usually for the engine. Dizzy is dumb.

I do not have ragtop in my vocabulary. I've used soft top, convertible, or vert (while typing) before.

On the flip side, why is every car 40 years old a muscle car? I own a 442; it's a muscle car. I own a Monte Carlo; it is not an SS, not a big block, thus it is not a muscle car. For that matter, is any 80s 442 or HO a muscle car? Their performance is better than the normal Cutlasses, but that's like being the smartest third grader.

 

Additionally, Octania is right about factory speak. We call drive shafts prop shafts, axles drive shafts, mcpherson strut assemblies axles, lug nuts hub nuts, and I always get yelled at for calling the inline 4 a four banger as opposed to an L4.

 

From now on im going to refer to my b&m quarter stick shifter as the pimp stick. Now that's unique lol

 

Are we having Dinner?

Or is it Supper?

Maybe we're just having tea.