floor 'ground'

Christopher Philippo toff at MAC.COM
Fri Sep 26 14:25:00 UTC 2014


On Sep 26, 2014, at 10:15 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
> I remember people, including I think me as a child, being corrected for saying "(fall on) the ground" for "the floor" when inside
> 
> "Don't eat that--it fell on the ground"
> "You mean the floor"

Imagine children being told that if they kept using those words incorrectly then they’d be grounded.  They’d probably be floored that the difference could matter so much!

Chris Philippo
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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