Replies

1. 
   RickL | Jan 25, 2008 06:53pm | #1

   Drill bit is the tooling for a drill.  Drill, corded drill, cordless drill!

   Drill motor would bee to long a term. It would easily be shortend to drill.

2. 
   MikeHennessy | Jan 25, 2008 06:54pm | #2

   I refer to it as "the DeWalt", or "the Milwaukee", or "the Bulldog", depending on what color it is. ;-)

   For me, a "drill" is usually what you use to make a "drill bit" spin around and do stuff.

   Mike Hennessy
   Pittsburgh, PA

3. 
   JMartinsky | Jan 25, 2008 09:40pm | #3

   Dear Big,
   I have always called a drill................... well................ a drill.

   Best,

   John

4. 
   jeff100 | Jan 25, 2008 09:55pm | #4

   When I was a young lad, starting out in life working in a machine shop as an apprentice, my boss would admonish me when I referred to a drill as a 'bit'.  He would tell me a bit goes into a horses mouth.  A drill makes round holes in stuff.  Two different things. 

   Yes, a drill motor is...well...a drill motor.  My dad was the same way, that's what he taught me to call it.  I guess technically, it is a drill motor with a chuck attached.  Perhaps that term is a hold over from the introduction of motorized devices.  Maybe it should be called a motorized brace?  Ha ha ha.

   It's the thing you put the drill into to spin it and make round holes.  Round so long as the drill has a proper grind on the end anyway.  I've seen all manner of shaped holes made by drills when I was learning how to hand sharpen a drill.  Ha ha ha ha ha....

   Edit:  I'll nip this before it gets started.  For all you folks who call a drill a drill bit, you'll get no argument from me.  While my machinery's handbook doesn't mention drill 'bits', I do see it everywhere on the internet, so it must be right!...;>)

   
   

   ---

   Edited 1/25/2008 2:07 pm by jeff100

5. 
   philip | Jan 26, 2008 04:28am | #5

   Why, I would call it an electric drill....To me the "drill motor" is 750 horse, direct current-the one that turns the rotary table that engages the Kelly bushings that drive the drill string that turns the drill bit that makes the hole that gets the crude oil out from depths of several thousand feet.....(;)

   Philip Marcou
6. 
   Tinkerer3 | Jan 26, 2008 07:47am | #6

   I don't think one could confuse an electric drill with a drill bit, but let's face it, they are both drills.  I think "drill motor" is misleading because the motor consists of an armature, its brushes and case and excludes the gears the chuck and cord.  Once there are enough people using a term it is coined into the english language.  Once a term is in our common language it doesn't suddenly become wrong when someone refers to it by another term.  When I was a youngster, there were two common types of planers - the jointer planer and the thickness planer.  I don't think those terms became wrong just because the modern set calls them something else.  We had a sabre saw and a jig saw.  The one was held in hand and the other sat on a table.  Am I wrong calling my sabre saw by what it was called when I bought it or did it somehow metamorphose into something else?   We have a changing language.

   ---

   Edited 1/25/2008 11:50 pm ET by Tinkerer3

   
   

   ---

   Edited 1/25/2008 11:55 pm ET by Tinkerer3

1. 
   jeff100 | Jan 26, 2008 08:45am | #7

   While I find it silly at times to get caught up in semantics, it is very important, to use the proper technical terms for technical objects, in a technical conversation. Take, as example the terms cabinet saw, table saw, and contractors saw. Assuming for a moment that I did not know the difference, if somebody sold me a table saw, told me it was a cabinet saw, and then I were to find out it was a contractors saw, I would legitimately feel cheated, once I became educated on the difference. I have worked in several professions in my career, most recently as a software architect in the IT industry. Terminology is very important, to properly communicate technical concepts.