A CHANGE from the Toilet Issues.

I’d like to preserve some of our language. The ground is the ground and the floor is the floor, and not vice versa.

So many people, including TV news reporters, when talking about the ground outside, call it the floor.

In normal circumstances the ground is what you stand on when outside and when inside you stand on the floor.

Examples – The floor of a cave. (The ground of a cave just doesn’t sound right) You have a groundsheet in a tent, but it’s still called the floor of the tent!

The grounds of a building are the land which surrounds it. No one says they’re going for a walk in the school floors!

You never hear of a cricket floor, it’s a cricket ground and the caretaker is a groundsman, not a floorsman!

There are exceptions – children are grounded for bad behaviour and “the boxer was floored with one blow” and the sea floor or the ocean floor. Of course you can also be floored by a remark from someone.

So please let’s know our floor from our ground.

Robin Gardiner

Timothy Close, Bournemouth

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