LL-L "Lexicon" 2007.09.16 (02) [E]

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L O W L A N D S - L  -  16 September 2007 - Volume 02
Song Contest: lowlands-l.net/contest/ (- 31 Dec. 2007)
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From: R. F. Hahn < sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Lexicon

Dear Lowlanders,

It has long seemed to me that two sets of English words are geographically
distributed "east vs west," where "east" is Britain and British Commonwealth
country as well as Eastern North America, and "west" is the rest of North
America and territories of its influence.  I am wondering if there is any
basis to it.

East:
1. cellar
2. corridor

West:
1. basement
2. hallway

If this is at least roughly correct, I wonder where the dividing line is.  I
expect it to be somewhere in the Eastern Midwest (in Canada perhaps at the
eastern end of Ontario).

Admittedly, I am not totally sure about Canada in this regard.  I do hear
the "western" set in British Columbia and Alberta, but as a Commonwealth
Country with large numbers of British immigrants and greater exposure to
non-American English media Canada tends to be more of a mixed bag.

Most US Americans understand "cellar" and "corridor."  So far I have only
come across one young Californian that didn't understand what was meant by
"corridor," believing it was some special Mexican thing ...

Furthermore, I wonder about the distribution of the following.

In Europe (not only in English), generally "first floor" (or "first
stor(e)y") is what at least in parts of North America is "second floor,"
while "ground floor" is "first floor" in North America.

I'll be interested to hear your takes on these issues.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

•

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