# Why is the 'First Floor' the second floor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 16, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-first-floor-the-second-floor/264755 "2004-09-16T23:39:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2004, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-first-floor-the-second-floor/264755/41 "2004-09-20T12:31:32Z")
AFAIK, we Brits are holding firm to our numbering system, and not capitulating to the “first = ground” hegemony 😉 Incidentally, at my halls of residence at university (I went to Sheffield, which is _a tad_ hilly), you entered on the second floor (numbered 2), but thanks to the strange topography thereabouts, there were two floows below that at one end of the building, numbered 1 and 0. My room was on floor 2, so I’d go in the main entrance at ground level, walk a short distance down the corridor to my room, without climbing any stairs, look out of the window and find myself two storeys above the ground! Gave me a shock when I first saw my room, I can tell you… ---
**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:** [September 20, 2004, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-first-floor-the-second-floor/264755/42 "2004-09-20T12:43:06Z")
> [@Bryan Ekers](#): > > There is no floor zero. > > That’s why the millenium started in 2001. > > I mean, duh. You wouldn’t want to argue that there wasn’t (or shouldn’t have been) _any such thing_ as the year 2000 though, would you? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-is-the-first-floor-the-second-floor/264755.md?page=2)