#17127
01/29/2001 3:32 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
For me, too, a basement is a partial below ground space-- since my house is on a hill--on one side the basement has windows about 10 inches high-- and on the other side-- 24 inches high 5 little windows in all. but a cellar would not have windows, and might not even have a a paved floor. it might be modified too-- root cellar or coal cellar-- or wine cellar-- the last one might be quite elegant-- one neighbor made one-- with beautiful stone walls--(not concrete blocks walls like my basement).
Most house in this area have some sub structrure-- but a few are slab houses-- built on a slab of concrete- with no basement, cellar or even a crawl space-- my enclosed porch has a foundtion wall-- but it only goes 18inches into the ground-- I have a little door high up on the basement wall-- i can climb a ladder, and "crawl" (on hands and knees) into space under the porch--(i personal have never done it-- but ex has-- when adding wiring) since porch is electronics (computer and stereo stuff) room, and wires from equipement run in basement ceiling to various other rooms--
and an Attic is a the space just under the roof (on a house with peaked or hip, or mansard roof) a garret is the rooms- (if any) I have an attic-- but since it only has a ladder for access, and it not high enough to make into rooms, its just an attic. In my first house, the attic had 2 rooms with slanted walls/ceilings these were garret rooms--(knee walls came up to about 4 foot high-- and the attic had Cubby rooms-- as spoken of earlier in this thread.)
|
|
|
#17128
01/29/2001 3:55 PM
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289
veteran
|
|
veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 1,289 |
Ground floor
Bikermom has info on ground floor, which does not include the fact that while we use "first floor" as a synonym for ground floor, in UK and the continent, the first floor is what we call the second; i.e., the first above the ground floor.
The ground floor does not have to be directly on the ground. Baltimore, where I live, is famous for its row houses, many of which have white marble steps, which every housewife who didn't want to become known as the neighborhood slut faithfully scrubbed every Saturday so they would always be white and gleaming, a custom now practiced mostly by the elderly. The steps are necessary because the ground floor is actually 3 or 4 feet off the street level, to allow small windows in the front and back to provide light in the basement (all such houses have a basement). The basement, in 19th century houses, always contained the kitchen. In most small row houses, the part of the basement not including the laundry tubs, washer, dryer, and furnace has been panelled (knotty pine is the classic treatment), with tile or linoleum floor and drop ceiling to make a family room. The reason for the kitchen in old houses and the family room in later ones being in the basement is the Baltimore climate, which is positively tropical in summer. Those row houses are unbearably hot from mid-June to mid-Sept., so in the days before air conditioning was common, they fixed up the basement since it was much cooler.
|
|
|
#17129
01/29/2001 4:00 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
I have a Canadian version of the IKEA catalogue at home and I promise I will check it out tonight. However, I suspect that it would be "wardrobe", because a closet isn't free-standing (it's built-in), and "cutlery", because it isn't silver so "silverware" would be false advertising, technically. However, in everyday usage, I interchange "silverware" and "cutlery", even knowing that they are not quite synonyms. And I just plain never use "wardrobe" since we don't have any of the free-standing things in our house!  I think the "Scandinavian" names refer to "lines" of furniture - we have Bialitt bedside tables, but there are also desks and dressers by the same name.
|
|
|
#17130
01/29/2001 4:17 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Such a fecund thread!
In Michigan, "cellar" isn't heard often, although I recall my grandmother using it when I was young. Any below-ground-level floor in a residence is liable to be called the "basement," but highfalutin folk with a walk-out finished basement might insist that it is a "lower level." And, the dirt-floor-and-stone-wall cellar you all are describing is called (TA-DA!): a Michigan basement.
Silverware: almost any eating utensil is called silverware by the hoi polloi, regardless of its composition, including the disposable plastic stuff. Those who own actual silverware might distinguish between it and flatware (stainless steel, usually). "Cutlery" I always took to refer to knives.
|
|
|
#17131
01/29/2001 4:28 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,156 |
"Cutlery" I always took to refer to knives.I'm not sure why I never thought of that before. Everyone here would understand it to mean forks, knives, and spoons, even though it they may prefer to use another word instead (I like "silverware" myself). I'm not sure I could ever say "flatware" without feeling like I was writing in a bridal magazine! (This may be because most of the bridal magazines here come from the US!) 
|
|
|
#17132
01/29/2001 6:31 PM
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,757 |
"Cutlery" I always took to refer to knivesYes, the original meaning was just this, deriving I think from Latin via French (another pure stream, Bob  ). The traditional English Guild of Cutlers were specifically makers of cutting implements, and left the making of mere spoons and forks to another guild entirely (the name of which escapes my leaking brain right now!) Someone else will surely fill in... But nowadays cutlery certainly in the UK is taken to refer to all metal table settings. BTW, the most expensive set ever made? Not gold, but aluminum! (or aluminium as it later became known)
|
|
|
#17133
01/29/2001 6:54 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
some king/queen's coranation gift-- which one? it was back in the days before electricity was common-- since smelting aluminum was difficult-- (but is easy with electricity-- why?)
ancient times, rock crystal (pure quartz) was valuable as Glass-- both of which where valued as precious as diamonds--which as the hardest material could be split along crystal lines, but they didn't know how to polish-- so ancient diamonds are not nearly as sparkley as modern stones. -- correction-- where not cut to sparkle.
and yes-- a cutlery store sells knives-- all sort of kitchen knives, (bread, paring, boning), specialty knives (hunting, fish, wood carving), razors, and scissors. Everything from 3 inch fruit knive to something the size of machete.
I use flatware (stainless steel) but often call it "silverware" (i wish it was)
and while we at it-- what kind of dishes? or is it china? or melmaine? (is that spelled right?--in NY is called melmack--pronouncation nothing like the spelling)
i use generic dishes--but have plates, (various sizes) and bowls, mugs, tea cups, and saucers.
but my friend sets her table with pottery.. (plates, bowls, mugs...)
|
|
|
#17134
01/29/2001 7:51 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
OK, of troy, please spill: what is "melmaine?"
|
|
|
#17135
01/29/2001 7:57 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 137
member
|
|
member
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 137 |
Some day I will have an athenaeum! as soon as I can kick my husband out of the house and take over his home office.
|
|
|
#17136
01/29/2001 8:00 PM
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 1,981 |
>OK, of troy, please spill: what is "melmaine?"
I think Helen is refering to melamine, a plastic made from resin, used for outdoor non-breakable plates, bowls etc.
PS I think that we are meant to be in miscellany by now but it is too late to move the whole thread.
|
|
|
#17137
01/29/2001 8:43 PM
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 771 |
In reply to:
I think Helen is refering to melamine, a plastic made from resin, used for outdoor non-breakable plates, bowls etc.
PS I think that we are meant to be in miscellany by now but it is too late to move the whole thread.
Miscellany indeed... and when I interpreted melamine, the next thought to cross my fevered brow was "Qiana". Since we've gotten into the no-man's-land of 50s and 60s composite substances, I figured I might as well bring that one up ~
|
|
|
#17138
01/29/2001 8:54 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
What is melmaine? (looked it up its melemine) Very popular in the '50's and '60's. a hard plastic use for dishware... It was pretty much chip proof, hard to break, and a hard surface, so you could cut a steak or something on the plate..(dict. M-W 10th--a resin or plastic made from white crystalline orgain baseC3 H6 N6, with a high melting point)
I think it was a brand name--like tuperware-- but was copied frequently-- It something like "bake-lite" which is a brand name plastic use on pot handles-- it doesn't melt till heated to over 450 degrees (f) so you could start a an omelette in a frypan, and then put the pan in the oven and the handle wouldn't melt. But bake lite only comes in dark colors and melemine (still pronounced "mel Mack") was light in color and in heft. service for 8--45 pieces might weight only 7 or 8 pounds! you could "pop" melemine into a 200 degree oven to keep food warm (or to reheat)
I got some when kids where young--(28 years ago) and still have some left--(some got discarded) very hard to break!
|
|
|
#17139
01/29/2001 9:13 PM
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
Oh i don't know-- It never occurred to me that Jo wouldn't have closets to hang her clothes in, and if i understand her right, she live in what i call a row house-- or a town house (town house being an upscale row home)-- I know the word terrace-- but its not a way to define a house. and Spart didn't know about cellars-- and Byb has vestibules in his house-- i have a foyer. again, not that i don't know the word-- but never use it in the same sense.
and while McMansion is a local term--other's identified with the large, large ornate house on a small lot that has become all to common in US--
but i think Brownstone are unique to NY (original elegant town houses, with a facade of Brown sand stone. From 15 feet to 30 wide in front-- 4 to 5 floors-- the lowest being about 4 foot below grade) in some ways similar to the terraces that Jo defined--(i think of the "bellamy's" house in the series upstairs/downstairs only brown, not white)) but some have been cut up into 2, 3, 4 or 5 "flats"or apartments-- each one floor of what was original a 1 family house-- and "painted ladies" the elegant ornately painted houses of San Fran. are unique--
we all live in houses-- and many "look" the same-- but what we call them differs. I wonder if Avy would recognize what i call a "bungalow". she would, of course realize its a house, (not an office or a factory) but would she think it looked like what she calls a bungalow?
and I never use "cutlery"-- I use flatware.
|
|
|
|
|
