Date:  Mon, 14 Jul 1997 11:43:50 -0500
From:  Mark Mandel <Mark[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]DRAGONSYS.COM>
Subject: Re: Ground for Floor

"Margaret G. Lee -English" <mlee[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CS.HAMPTONU.EDU> asks

>>>
Has anyone noticed within the last several years that many people refer to the "ground" when they
really mean the
"floor"? For example, "She dropped the bowl on the ground" (on the kitchen floor). When did
*ground* stopped
being "terra firma" and started being the inside bottom surface of a room ?

<<<
A long time ago, at least in some localities. I remember being irritated with my grandmother
when she said it, and she
died maybe fifteen years ago. But I'm thinking about exchanges during my childhood or teen
years, during the '50s
and '60s, and Nana was born about 1892. -- But maybe it's spreading now.

-- Mark

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