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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
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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.)
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Joined: Nov 2000
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Nov 2000
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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.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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old hand
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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.
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Pooh-Bah
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OP
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.
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Joined: Jan 2001
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old hand
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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!) 
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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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)
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
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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...)
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Pooh-Bah
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OP
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
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OK, of troy, please spill: what is "melmaine?"
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Posts: 137
member
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member
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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.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2000
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>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.
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