floor 'ground'

[Joel S. Berson]

At 9/26/2014 10:15 AM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>I've never encountered this substitution, or the conflation in this 
>direction, but I remember it in the opposite direction.  I don't 
>know if it's specifically New York area, like "stand on (line)" and 
>"take"/"bring" reversals, but 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"

I (also a New York Citier) sometimes use the "wrong" word (both 
ways), but I'm always embarrassed after it emerges and sometimes 
correct myself.  Perhaps, however, that's because my mother was a 
high school English teacher.

Joel 

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