"INTAKE MANIFOLD Definition: The network of passages that direct air or air-fuel mixture from the throttle body to the intake ports in the cylinder head. The flow typically proceeds from the throttle body into a chamber called the plenum, which in turn feeds individual tubes, called runners, leading to each intake port. Engine breathing is enhanced if the intake manifold is configured to optimize the pressure pulses in the intake system."
And is it bad that I don't know these things without looking them up? I mean, I know what things are and what they do but not what they're called.