floor 'ground'

[Benjamin Barrett]

I used to have a townhouse in which the bottom floor was a garage with a tiny entry. The main floor was the next floor up. I found not only myself but renters also referred to the main floor as the first floor, numbering the other floors on up (four in total).

This was a subconscious thing based on living in the unit, but it might be a basis for change.

Benjamin Barrett
Formerly of Seattle, WA

Learn Ainu! https://sites.google.com/site/aynuitak1/home

On Sep 26, 2014, at 9:18 AM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

> I am surprised no one has brought up the concept of the "ground floor",
> which is the 1st floor in the US and the 0th floor in the rest of the world.
> 
> DanG
>> 
>> On 26 Sep 2014, at 00:41, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU> wrote:
>> 
>>> from Chris Hansen on a Facebook lgbt group:
>>> =20
>>> To the linguists among us: Arnold and Chris [Waigl] among many others. =
>> I've noticed recently that some people now use "floor" to mean "ground", =
>> as in "He was walking down the street and suddenly fell to the floor." =
>> Another FB friend in another group (the Empress of Washington Post's =
>> Style Invitational devotees, if you must know) has never heard this =
>> usage. I've searched but my Googling has obviously fallen victim to my =
>> preconceptions because I haven't found anything useful. Does anyone here =
>> have any insights on this? Perhaps some written articles? I know this =
>> isn't the perfect group in which to ask this but, not being a =
>> linguistics person I'd feel embarrassed to barge in on one, ask the =
>> question, and then leave again once I'd found the answer. That would be =
>> too much like "rubber band management". I'd be extremely grateful for =
>> any thoughts.
>>> =20
>>> .....
>>> =20
>>> i'd be happy to relay responses on this list to Chris [Hansen].
>>> =20
>>> arnold
>>> =20

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