"ground" vs. "floor"

[David Daniel]

FWIW Talking to myself, I would have said: "...spilled birdseed." Telling
someone about it, I would have said "...spilled birdseed on the garage
floor." Floor alone would be weird for me, as would ground. 
DAD

To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "ground" vs. "floor"

Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
Subject:      Re: "ground" vs. "floor"
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This morning I noticed something when I opened my garage door, and 
said to myself "Somebody's gotten into the garage, knocked over a 
trash barrel, and spilled birdseed on the ground."  (Not aloud; I was 
alone.)  In this context "floor" would have sounded odd to me.  If a 
spill had occurred inside my house, I would have said "floor".  I 
suppose that my garage's concrete "floor" does not have the artisanal 
quality of a "floor".

However -- I would say "The garage floor now needs sweeping."  Here 
"ground" would sound odd.  One doesn't sweep "ground", unless one is 
the Monk.

P.S.  I have personified raccoons ever since the summer of 2013, when 
one raised her infants in my attic; and revisited last summer, but 
only to reside temporarily in a hole in a nearby tree with this year's
brood.

Joel

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