What is a mousepad?

Being an adult in a school system where students are graded, critiqued, and chastised for all of their mistakes, it is important that we ourselves use the correct words for things. Hopefully this knowledgebase article will help clear up what seems to be a very confusing topic for way too many of our teachers...

What is a mousepad?

The pink thing in the picture below is a MOUSEPAD. It is a pad for a mouse.

The other item in the picture, and this is the important part so pay attention, is a TRACKPAD or TOUCHPAD. It is NOT a mousepad (even if you were to physically set a mouse on top of it, it will still not be a mousepad!).

I'm sure we can all agree on the importance of using the correct word, and hopefully this article will be of great benefit to everyone.