Great idea!
Cranking means turning over, spinning over, or my favourite 'RRR, RRR, RRR' and STARTING means bloody STARTING!!!
Other things... your modern EFI cars don't really get 'tune-ups', but they do get 'major services'. That means your plugs, air filter, fuel filter etc get replaced and you motor runs a bit better(well, sometimes. it's about 10% better and 90% placebo about 95% of the time). Sort of like back in the day when they fiddled with the points and carby, except that you don't have any parts that get adjusted anymore, just consumable parts that get renewed.
My personal tip would be this: when describing a problem to a mechanic, be as creative as humanly possible, and think of as much information as possible.
How long has it had the problem for? What where you doing when you first noticed the problem? Had anything been done to the car prior to the problem occurring? Was it a ripping hot day when your car overheated? Were your brakes squealing or shuddering after you did that mountain pass with a monstrous trailer on the back?
The more information you can give him (or her) the less time they may have to spend hunting for the problem, the less pissed off at you they'll be, and the less money they'll charge you.
They might also be able to fix or improve the vehicle in a way as to stop the problem from re-occuring.
And never feel silly in making stupid noises to describe what your car is doing. It really does help.
And it's really, really funny to watch... | 
