Slot drills and End mills - Modern terms

This is a hard one to answer correctly as the true definitions have
been lost in time and by there never having been a standard.
As some people have pointed out Slot drill is UK speak but not
confined to the UK. Years ago a slot drill was a two flute centre
cutting cutter that could and was used for cutting slots and pockets.
An End mill was a multi toothed cutter with a hole in the centre that
allowed easy grinding of the end teeth without interferance. These
were uses for side cutting as because of the hole they couldn't
plunge.
In the US this was the same but they were all called end mills and
some were centre cutting some weren't.
Confusing isn't it ?

Now in modern terms with the world getting smaller as regards
comunication and trade these terms are even more mixed up.
It doesn't help that manufacturers confuse the issue even further.
With modern CNC grinding methods it possible to get 2,3,4,5,6 and 8
flute cutters with a centre cutting tooth so what do we call these?
Because they can centre cut and therefore slot some manufactures call
these slot drills, some call the 2 and 3 flute slot drills and the 4
flute and above end mills but they can all do the same job.
Some like J&L even list both types of the same cutter, on the same
page under different descriptions.

So the TRUE answer to what is a slot drill and what is an end mill is
THERE ISN'T ONE. Any standard that was even PART adheared to has been
lost. Changing production methods and descriptions have seen to this.

You have to read the description or look at the cutter and decide if
it can centre cut. If it can then it's up to you what you do with it.

John S.