The way I've heard the CAP theorem used practically at a high level is to frame the question as follows: What happens in the case of a (logical) network partit

The way I've heard the CAP theorem used practically at a high level is to frame the question as follows: What happens in the case of a (logical) network partition? - an AP system continues taking requests and provides eventual consistency, while a CP system waits for the partition to go away, or says come back later.