[Ads-l] "ground" vs. "floor"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Tonight on Animal Planet's _My Cat from Hell_, cat owners (or "guardians"
as they're supposed to be called) in two different states - California and
Oregon - referred to the floor of their apartments as "the ground."  (As
in, "down on the ground" and "put it on the ground,"  not (one hopes) "We
need a new rug for the ground."

One speaker was about thirty, the other maybe sixty.

JL

On Wed, Oct 8, 2014 at 7:36 PM, W Brewer <brewerwa at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "ground" vs. "floor"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> What about basements?  Subterranean.  I recall our first house having
> a gravel/dirt floor.  Would you spill paint on (A) the ground or (B)
> the floor? Guess you can sweep a dirt floor, but not gravel (on the
> ground). Questions what cause unrest.
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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