# Floor or ground **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 21, 2017, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floor-or-ground/802262 "2017-11-21T08:00:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![contradancer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@contradancer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/contradancer)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floor-or-ground/802262/1 "2017-11-21T08:00:12Z")
I guess this bugs me so much because I’m getting old and I think it’s incorrect; on the other hand I realize language changes. When I grew up, when you dropped something, it fell on the floor when you were inside and on the ground when you were outside. If the person is in their living room and drops something and they say it fell on the ground, it completely grates on my nerves. If they are outside and drop something and they say it fell on the floor, to me, they sound like a complete idiot. I guess this changed. Or is it just a matter of so many foreign speakers in the country now?:smack: ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floor-or-ground/802262/2 "2017-11-21T12:41:59Z")
I make the same distinction you do (and, in fact, corrected my 3 1/2 year old daughter when she was outside yesterday and referred to the ground as the floor.) I’m very loose when it comes to the way people talk, but I’ve not heard anyone refer to the ground outside as the floor in my dialect. Come to think of it, I don’t ever remember hearing anyone flip the two words, as it is something that sticks out for me. However, from googling, it does seem to be a thing, and apparently with [a long history](https://community.oxforddictionaries.com/boards/topic/using-floor-instead-of-ground/). That particular thread is specific to British English. ---
**Author:** ![Paintcharge](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/paintcharge/32/7946_2.png) [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floor-or-ground/802262/3 "2017-11-21T14:50:14Z")
Ok, so what is something like an outdoor loading dock, or a porch? Is it a floor if it’s man made? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floor-or-ground/802262/4 "2017-11-21T14:58:36Z")
Absolutely. If your are inside, then it’s a floor. Unless you’re in the Navy. Then it’s the deck. Outside it’s the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floor-or-ground/802262/5 "2017-11-21T15:04:18Z")
Floor is a subset of ground. No matter where I am, if I drop something it will land on the ground. If I am inside a building (or, I suppose, in the ocean), it also lands on the floor. ---
**Author:** ![chaika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chaika/32/405_2.png) [@chaika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaika)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floor-or-ground/802262/6 "2017-11-21T15:11:34Z")
I also make the same general distinction the OP does. But using the word floor to mean ground seems to happen a lot, especially in the UK. I suppose it is like the expression “the forest floor” which has been around for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floor-or-ground/802262/7 "2017-11-21T16:18:54Z")
Floor indoors, unless it’s something weird like a tent, or a museum house with beaten-earth floor (in which case it is both floor and ground) Ground outdoors, referring to most surfaces that are at natural ground level, so road is ground, patio is ground, lawn is ground, but decking is decking. And agreed: ocean floor, forest floor are exceptions (are there any others like that? Cave floor maybe?) ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floor-or-ground/802262/8 "2017-11-21T16:54:55Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > And agreed: ocean floor, forest floor are exceptions (are there any others like that? Cave floor maybe?) Also, “floor” and “ceiling” are used in aviation sometimes to refer to the lower and upper altitudes of certain controlled air spaces. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floor-or-ground/802262/9 "2017-11-21T16:58:43Z")
Deck is a dilemma, isn’t it? So I use “deck” for that. But the flagstone patio is “ground”. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floor-or-ground/802262/10 "2017-11-21T17:33:19Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Floor is a subset of ground. No matter where I am, if I drop something it will land on the ground. If I am inside a building (or, I suppose, in the ocean), it also lands on the floor. It won’t land on the ocean floor if it’s not dense enough, though. It would land on the water, not the floor or the ground. And just bob around. But then that leaves us the problem of having something “land on water”. Can something land if land is absent? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floor-or-ground/802262/11 "2017-11-21T18:02:29Z")
To me, to land or landing means a return to the earth or a style of arrival such and a gymnastic landing. A return to the ground so to speak. ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2017, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floor-or-ground/802262/12 "2017-11-21T19:46:47Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > But then that leaves us the problem of having something “land on water”. Can something land if land is absent? > :dubious: It would seem to work, land can be used in the sense of disembark which suggests that “he stepped off the boat and landed in the water” is sensible. It can also be used when bringing something to land, even when it’s not technically ground, such as “she landed a big fish” while standing on a boat’s deck… though that use is only from the 1600s, so could be considered a neologism. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2017, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floor-or-ground/802262/13 "2017-11-22T00:39:47Z")
It’s about the second-rule. If it is edible, it will be subject to a five-second rule on the ground and a ten-second rule on the floor. The reason for that is very simple. if youi think about it. On a floor, there is a higher level of presumed maintenance of cleanliness and sanitation, while it is less likely that the ground has received that kind of summary scrutiny. ---
**Author:** ![Buttercup\_Smith](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/buttercup_smith/32/473_2.png) [@Buttercup\_Smith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buttercup_Smith)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2017, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floor-or-ground/802262/14 "2017-11-22T03:34:43Z")
> [@contradancer](#): > > I guess this bugs me so much because I’m getting old and I think it’s incorrect; on the other hand I realize language changes. > > When I grew up, when you dropped something, it fell on the floor when you were inside and on the ground when you were outside. If the person is in their living room and drops something and they say it fell on the ground, it completely grates on my nerves. If they are outside and drop something and they say it fell on the floor, to me, they sound like a complete idiot. > > I guess this changed. Or is it just a matter of so many foreign speakers in the country now?:smack: Same for me. Bugs the shit out of me when someone refers to a floor as the ground. Don’t know who started it or why but it’s just wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2017, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/floor-or-ground/802262/15 "2017-11-22T08:58:36Z")
There are instructional illustrative videos about exactly this topic. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/gAYL5H46QnQ/maxresdefault.jpg "Threw It On The Ground") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAYL5H46QnQ)