BREAKE-IN v RUN-IN

Hi Hendrik

I'm not familiar with the term 'run-in' only because it's just not used here. It sounds too close to something like the opposite of run-out to me. But I do see your point.

I don't use the terms 'break-in' or 'break-in period', especially around anything mechanical. Too much like passing bad Karma...(not that I believe such things...)

Since most mechanisms (including people) seem to seek their own level of comfort-in-operation, I prefer to use the terms 'settle-in' or 'seat'.

Run-in, runin, break-in, breakin, who cares, as long as the concept is understood by the listener.

Since I've joined this forum, I've seen the English language butchered in more ways than I thought possible, but, usually someone like the cat or the gremlin can understand enough to answer.

In this case, since it's published in the manual, I'd stick with break-in.

We use "run-in" in the UK. "Break-in" grates a bit, & sounds odd to me, but I guess it's just what you're used to.

I was thrown for a few seconds when looking at the scanned page from the manual, seeing a section on "Break-in" adjacent to a section about theft deterrent.

"Officer, we've had a break-in" - "Then the perpetrators can expect a run-in with the Law" .

Queer Funny stuff, language.

CR4 Admin: removed broken link

I missed the connotation with burglaries. I was only concerned with the poor horse in Horse Power.

Real funny stuff this language.

Break-in is the common term used for the initial operation of equipment in the U.S.; that period in which the parts of assembled machinery "become acquainted and happy" with each other.

Just another term for the same process.

I personally find it interesting when we develop different terms for the same things.

Most fascinating last year when when three of my friends and myself got together last year at a conference; one from New York, one from the U.K, one from Australia and me from the southeastern U.S.; the various evolutions of English are amazing!

I'd guess that break-in is used 95% of the time in the US, and run-in is used most of the time in the UK.

To me, a 'break-in' is a robbery, and a 'run-in' is what happens when the theives get caught!

There has got to be a better term (wear-in?), but I can't think of it right now...

Break-in is a good phrase b/c it has connotations of gently deflowering virgins and treating machinery the same way will also cause it to give back greater pleasure in the future. : )

In the UK:

• Break-in is something that the burglar does to gain access to the car's contents, with the aim of thieving it.
• Run-in is something the user does to ensure the car's bearings become a running-fit from a manufactured fit. On older vehicles it used to be 1500 or 5000 miles from new - don't exceed so-many revolutions per minute, and don't exceed such-a-speed. With modern vehicles there is little need - a trend imported from Japanese vehicle manufacturing.

There's more:

• Burnt-out has little to do with burn-up. Burn-up is what younger South Essex residents do with cars on a Saturday night on the A13, usually followed by police interceptor vehicles at high speed. A burnt-out vehicle is usually only movable using a scrap recovery lorry.
• Yes. Lorry. Not truck. Lorry. A truck is a heritage 4-wheeled wooden-bodied open-top rail vehicle used for carrying coal (see Thomas the Tank Engine and his Troublesome Trucks).
• A boot is the same as a trunk, really, except elephants don't have boots (only the rich ones, perhaps).
• Tyres are the same thing as tires, just spelled differently. Just don't put cross-plies on the back if there are radials on the front axle.
• A bonnet is the same thing as a hood, unless one is wearing it, in which case a bonnet is a type of traditional hat worn by ladies and a hood a more modern piece of headgear usually associated with feral male teenagers.
• Fenders and bumpers are the same thing, usually, except that one can put strings on a Fender, plug it into an amplifier and play tunes and rhythm on it.
• Exhausts are mufflers, except one can also wear a muffler in cold weather to keep warm. The German word for the exhaust is 'Auspuff', which is quite something.
• Radiators radiate far less than they convect, interestingly.
• Petrol is a liquid, usually, whereas gas can be both a liquid or a gas in some places, which is confusing. Once grassoline becomes more commonplace, perhaps this confusion will abate.
• "Front-wheel skid" is derogatory Cockney Rhyming Slang.

Funny old world, isn't it?

In my youth in the UK, new cars were supplied with a label across the back window with "Running in, Please pass" on it.

It was also used when a new engine was being run in in an older car.

So I would maintain using "Running in" while the action is being followed and "Run in" when its finished....."My car is now run in and you can use more throttle...." for example.....

So please consider both words and for the USA:- "Breaking in" and "Broken in" as with wild horses.....

Its a bit "Off Topic" but here goes with some other infos:-

I rebuilt a great many A-Series motors in the 60's and even a few B-Series and others....

The old mechanic that re-bored the blocks for me was a real master (long dead I fear!) and he told me of a method on:-

a) how to run a car in properly and quickly to get

b) the lowest fuel and oil consumption and maximum power.

I still use it today on new cars and I believe it still works just as well as it did then (If anyone is interested just ask and I will post the simple method here for all to read, I don't want to get lambasted too much for being off topic!).

It works best on motors you have rebuilt yourself.......as new cars have already been run for some miles by delivery drivers....

Sounds like more idiosyncracies of the English language. Like why are there no comon rhyming pairs in the words bough, cough, dough and tough? But then, language is more art than science.