[SeanLuke]

I'm sorry, but this isn't "layman use" of the term laugh track: it is simply wrong. A laugh track is a separately recorded or constructed track of laughter that didn't exist when the show was being shot. Calling a live studio audience a "laugh track" is an absurd black-is-white abuse of the term.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laugh_track

The laugh track has a long and sordid history in US television recording, and Lorre is ticked off that people think his shows have to result to fakery.

[cdcarter]

From the second sentence of that article: "In some productions the laughter is a live audience response".

[forgottenpass]

I don't want to get into linguistics wankery about when a definition counts, but I really don't think it's as absolute as you're portraying it. Certainly not if have to point me to wikipedia to refute the way it is often used in by people who don't know nor care about the canned/audience distinction.

On top of that, you seem to be banking on the idea I won't actually click your link, from the first paragraph:

    In some productions the laughter is a live audience response; 
    in the U.S., the term usually implies artificial laughter (canned 
    laughter or fake laughter) made to be inserted into the show.

That's an awful lot of ambiguity for such a "black-is-white abuse of the term"