hurricane vs. typhoon

I always heard that a hurricane was Atlantic, and a typhoon was Pacific, but that may just be folk knowledge. I'm not looking it up to see.

There are some pretty good explanations here:

http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/2304/Hurricane-vs-Typhoon

Although both WW2 fighters, the body shape and armaments were different, the Typhoon having a massive air-intake cowling and a capacity to carry bombs that were both absent from the Hurricane.

Airfix makes 1:72 scale model kits of both aircraft (usual disclaimer).

http://images.uk.ask.com/fr?q=Typhoon&desturi=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.einsteinsemporium.com%2Ftechnology%2Faviation%2F1940-1945%2Faeg00.htm&fm=i&ac=1&ftURI=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.uk.ask.com%2Ffr%3Fq%3DTyphoon%26desturi%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.einsteinsemporium.com%252Ftechnology%252Faviation%252F1940-1945%252Faeg00.htm%26imagesrc%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.einsteinsemporium.com%252Ftechnology%252Faviation%252F1940-1945%252Fimages%252Faeg00-typhoon.gif%26thumbsrc%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252F65.214.37.88%252Fts%253Ft%253D6404592333486095693%26thumbuselocalisedstatic%3Dfalse%26fn%3Daeg00-typhoon.gif%26imagewidth%3D295%26imageheight%3D80%26fs%3D13%26ft%3Dgif%26f%3D2%26fm%3Di%26ftbURI%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fuk.ask.com%252Fpictures%253Fq%253DTyphoon%2526page%253D11%2526pstart%253D156&qt=0

difference between hurricane & typhoon?

Hurricanes are seen on land while Typhoons are seen at the ocean (at least for those spaking Spanish)

Regional names: hurricanes occur in the Western hemisphere, while typhoons occur in Asia. In the Indian Ocean, they're known as cyclones.

A little perspective from a weather guy (storm spotter):

Hurricanes and typhoons are large, damaging cyclones that originate in the tropics. A cyclone is a synoptic scale system where winds blow in towards a low pressure center. The winds will turn counterclockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere. A cyclone usually produeces rainy or stormy weather.
When a low pressure center first forms over a tropical ocean, it is called a tropical disturbance. If it strengthens sufficiently, it becomes a tropical depression. The next stage of development is the tropical storm. These different levels are defined by pressure readings at the surface at the center of the system.
Storms are usually named when they reach tropical storm status.

These terms are both disambiguations for what should be correctley called a tropical cyclone