The "it is not a windmill" debate

What landscape structure has giant arms that spin in the wind like a pinwheel? Ask anyone they'll answer windmill, however, I keep getting corrected on the fact that what is up on top of Pillar is not technically a windmill.

My neighbor, Mr. Smug-pants was trying to inform me that it is in fact a wind turbine, as a windmill is only for grinding grain. So I took him for his word until I decided to finally look it up for a better explanation and ha ha Mr. Smug-pants wasn't entirely correct.

According to the world's most accurate internet encyclopedia... (does sic mean sarcasm intended? if so sic)... a windmill is a wind turbine, but a wind turbine isn't a windmill. No wonder I have recurring SAT question nightmares.

A wind turbine is a rotating machine which converts the kinetic energy in wind into mechanical energy. If the mechanical energy is used directly by machinery, such as a pump or grinding stones, the machine is usually called a windmill. If the mechanical energy is then converted to electricity, the machine is called a wind generator, wind power unit (WPU), or wind energy converter (WEC).

So what we have on top of Pillar as a whole machine would not be a windmill, as there isn't a Little Red Hen grainery or water tower on the side of the mountain. It contains a wind turbine, but would be classified as one of the three bolded terms from the quote. I'm not sure which one KEA prefers, but I like wind energy converter. Of course this is new terminology, as it says in the windmill article, the wind turbine title is 'recent', so I guess if you are over a certain age your ability to call it a windmill is grandfathered in.

Here's my wikipedia links if you really wanted to know: wind turbine, windmill

I also had another laugh at myself as we headed out to White Sands on the 4th of July, as we turned the corner I was startled with a thought of "oh wow, they put them out here too?". Luckily I caught myself before I spoke remembering, although yes it seems like we've been driving straight, this is the backside of the mountain. It was not like I didn't know that, we've ATV'd to end of the road parties many a time in high school revelry... just caught me off guard... there hasn't always been such an obvious landscape reminder there.

A video in honor of windmills dedicated to Mr. Smug-pants: