On the floor or on the ground?

[banivani]

I've grown up bilingual in Sweden. One of the things I struggled with as a child was the difference between roof/ceiling, since Swedish has the same word for both (you specify, if needed, if it's an outside or inside one). Oddly enough I also remember struggling with floor/ground, even though Swedish also has a distinction between these words. I distinctly remember being told that no, if you're outside you don't drop things on the floor, you drop them on the ground and vice versa - so I must have said the wrong word many times.

Now, I was watching the series Fool Me Once on Netflix the other day, and noticed how everyone, while outside, kept saying "down on the floor" and similar.

Has this become more common (saying floor about the outside ground)? Or was it always common/ok and I for some reason was taught a meaningless distinction that didn't matter? Or is the scriptwriter for the telly series an eejit? Is it regional?

I’d definitely say floor for inside and ground for outside.

If I was a cop saying to get down basically I can see how I might use floor or ground for either. Not sure if that’s what was happening in the show?

Floor and ceiling are inside a building. There is much missus of 'floor' on TV, especially in sports commentary.

Americanism? That programme is based on a book by Harlen Coben, who is American. Perhaps they included an American term for the US audience.

There's a scene in Peter Rabbit 2 (set in England, filmed in Australia, made by a US studio) where the word "flashlight" is used, then they humourously repeat it with the word "torch" with Peter saying "for our British friends".

Ground for outside, floor for inside are definitely correct. Unfortunately though, they are frequently misused.

Your understanding is correct. My husband says floor for both, which drives me insane.

One thing that's weird is the English saying 'to hit the roof'. Technically, it should be 'to hit the ceiling'.

I don't think I've ever noticed anyone say floor for outside ground. But I haven't been looking out for it! I'd say floor for inside and ground for outside. Although I don't think it's that different that I would think anyone using the other was odd.

you're right.

a friend of mine mixes them up & it grinds my gears!!

At primary school in the '80s I noticed kids say floor instead of ground for outside. Looks like it's here to stay.

You're right - but I'd say floor and ground are more interchangeable than roof and ceiling!

At one point it was said by a policeman, but I’m fairly sure someone else said it too who wasn’t police. Thing is it’s not really police anyway it’s a pretend cop 😉 so even if a real copper in the heat of the moment might say floor instead of ground I don’t know if the scripted copper would iyswim.

So I thought is it more widespread in America and this is an American script? But thinking about it I don’t think I’ve heard it in American tv or films, but I have heard it on stuff from the UK. I don’t think I’ve heard it in Ireland (my experience would be Dublin down to sunny SE mainly). Anyway, if you’re an English actor acting an American script but set in England surely you’d ask to change it? Not to mention all the other Brits who must be on set.

So I thought it might just be a variation that is becoming more accepted. It annoys me a lot now that I’ve started to notice it, obviously 🙄 that’s how it goes. But I still to this day sometimes say roof instead of ceiling I’m not so bothered by that! 😂

As someone pointed out on another thread, that series also had the Americanism of the 'trunk' instead of the boot of the car. Said by the English actor. So it might be that.

I see ‘floor’ used when ‘ground’ is meant quite a bit on Mn.

There is a distinction in meaning between the two words, and in many contexts it would be unnatural to say “floor” outside. Ground would be the right choice. So you were not being pointlessly corrected as a child — it does matter, it’s definitely worth knowing the difference.

There are different reasons you might hear “floor” outside. One is just that some people have relatively limited vocabulary or limited awareness around the words they choose and just don’t really understand or acknowledge the distinction. Or they might be doing that thing where they semi-deliberately affect sloppy or non-standard usage to give a specific impression of who they are culturally, depending on who they’re talking to (I heard someone talk about this recently and it was pretty interesting but I can’t recall it right now).

But also, in some contexts there are long-established idiomatic usages. So like, “Hit the floor!” as a shouted command, maybe by someone pointing a gun, or someone warning everyone else to drop down for safety reasons — similar to “Hit the deck!” — both of those get used in all sorts of indoor or outdoor settings. And they sound sort of tough and action-y, so people put them in scripts and whatnot, and the usage spreads.

And then I’m just speculating about this, but it could also just be that regional usage varies even within the UK as to whether the separate meanings of floor and ground have become blurred.

(outside) "He was laying on the floor"
No he wasn't, he was lying on the ground.

Cyprus - yes, I noticed "trunk" too and was very annoyed. But I could understand an actor going with it (and not saying "um I have notes"), because it refers to the exact same thing. Whereas floor/ground was less understandable if you have a distinct understanding of the words meaning different things, like chair/stool. (The entire storyline was completely American and then just plopped down in the UK, absolutely ridiculous and jarring!)

Harpy - yes, I have that impression too. I'm wondering if it's either consistently been a regional variation in the UK or if a variation is now becoming more widespread, and if it is regional or more sociolexical (maybe not a word). It would be interesting to get replies from people who always used "floor". I could definitely see it being regional, after all "forest floor" is a phrase and given that I can see "floor" being used more widely for "ground".

I'm well aware that I learnt the distinction correctly as a child, my point in the anecdote was to say that there clearly was enough of a distinction at that time for it to be upheld. But I ought to have said when that was, so late 70s early 80s! The distinction must have been clear then.

Lemonjuice - in that tv programme it wasn't in the context of such an idiomatic phrase IMO. I think they said "get down on the floor" in one instance and the other was something like "picked it up from the floor" or "dropped it on the floor". My "language feeling" (to coin a phrase, that's the Swedish word for when you as a native speaker just know what you think is right) is that "get down on the ground" is more idiomatic than "get down on the floor". I mean, if I ever said it wrong it'd be the former version. Alliteration and all that.

Ruby - oh the Swedes get by just fine with no distinction between roof/ceiling except when you need it ;) It's all context!