Do Canadians call the ground floor of buildings 'the first floor' like the Americans?

[MmmSkyscraper]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
I've seen it done both ways.

ORLY? :Q

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Originally posted by: otispunkmeyer
most elevators here are

G - 1 - 2 - 3 ......

im british

i prefer to call it the first floor though since it is the first floor you come to when entering a building.

I'm also British and would call it the ground floor.

 

[jai6638]

Originally posted by: Spacehead

Originally posted by: I Saw OJ
Whats the british system? Ground floor? Main floor?

Inquiring minds want to know!

Ground, 1,2,3................

 

[walkur]

Could depend on the building...
I noticed that, in residentional buildings, If the "bottom" floor had appartments on it it would be the 1st floor (ie. 1 in the elevator)
However, if said floor would only consist of a lobby an storage spaces it would be the "Ground Floor".

 

[Platypus]

I've seen Main, Ground, and 1st in the US.. there's hardly a standard.

 

[Platypus]

Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
I like it both ways.

Context, please?

- M4H

:shocked:

 

[ISAslot]

One of our buildings here on campus is in a hill, and when you enter at ground level from the front, you're already on the 3rd floor.

 

[ForumMaster]

just on question, why would canada follow the british way? Canada was a french colony. if anything, i suppose they would follow the french way.

 

[sdifox]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
just on question, why would canada follow the british way? Canada was a french colony. if anything, i suppose they would follow the french way.

French Way = British way... I think it's the European way, they don't live on the ground floor.

At least that is what I believe. I could be wrong.

 

[DrPizza]

"It was a cold, rainy night. I stepped through the doorway into that welcoming tall building. Naturally, I sought the elevator as I didn't want to be out of breath when I met the dame on the 10th floor. I figured I'd be out of breath soon enough though. As I got into the elevator, I noticed it had a G for the ground floor. 'Hmmm,' I thought to myself, 'this elevator must have been manufactured in the USA.' I know what else was manufactured in the USA - the breast implants on the dame I was about to meet..."

 

[2Xtreme21]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
just on question, why would canada follow the british way? Canada was a french colony. if anything, i suppose they would follow the french way.

Uhhhhh.....

Get this man a history book! Stat!

 

[TheSiege]

just call it the ground floor, it is universal. there is no proper way. Its not like all american buildings are labeled with a 1st floor. Ground would get you by

 

[So]

Originally posted by: TheSiege
just call it the ground floor, it is universal. there is no proper way. Its not like all american buildings are labeled with a 1st floor. Ground would get you by

Agreed. I've seen it both ways in the US as well.

 

[Scouzer]

Originally posted by: ForumMaster
just on question, why would canada follow the british way? Canada was a french colony. if anything, i suppose they would follow the french way.

You may be a ForumMaster, but you are a history fool.

 

[BrownTown]

but if you do have a hround floor you don't noramally have a first floor too, at leat not where I live. So it goes G-2-3-4. OF course alot have basments and sh|t so it can get really confusing. Most of the buildings at my college have the "ground" floor be floor "2" or "3" on the elevators and lower numbers are the basements. Also one has SB (sub basement)-1-2-3*.. where 3 is the ground floor and there are 3 floors under it. Except that really 2 is the actually the one on the ground, but its connected to another building on a hill where the ground there is at the third floor .

Basically jsut do whatever, I'm sure there are buildings done in pretty much every way imagionable.

 

[Marc_gb]

The Americans (unlike the British) call the ground floor of their buildings as the first. Do the Canadians follow this practice too or do they follow the British system?

Please this is very important for a story I'm writing. The mods locked the first question I asked becaus it was illegal.

What a load of rubbish answers you got... I love your storyline, I hope you managed to write your story. I am a Brit & I have experienced many confused Americans in the UK that don’t understand how to count floors of buildings. The first floor of a house is so obviously the first man made one above the ground & so on, but you knew that 😀. I wish I knew what the Canadian convention is, like the British system or the American. When you play a board game the 1st square will be the one after the start and so on through square 3,4 etc. Ground Floor in the UK is counted as Zero... why don’t the Americans do that? Rant over apart from saying I wish Americans would call their language American it is no longer English!

 

[pmv]

I remember being in the US and getting into the lift on the "ground" floor and repeatedly pressing the "1" button (to go one floor up, as I saw it) and being puzzled why the lift refused to move.

 

[thestrangebrew1]

IIRC I've seem M or L, then 1 in some places (I think casinos?). Our building has M, 2, 3.

 

[Midwayman]

Eh. American system makes more sense. Floors = stories. You have a 3 story building, floors are numbered 1,2,3. Easy. Ground is also... relative. I've been in numerous buildings where ground could be multiple stories due to being built on a slope. Ground just results in some really strange and inconsistent numbering. I'd be happy just replacing a floor number with what it represents- (L)obby, (M)ain, etc.

 

[pmv]

Eh. American system makes more sense. Floors = stories. You have a 3 story building, floors are numbered 1,2,3. Easy. Ground is also... relative. I've been in numerous buildings where ground could be multiple stories due to being built on a slope. Ground just results in some really strange and inconsistent numbering. I'd be happy just replacing a floor number with what it represents- (L)obby, (M)ain, etc.

Though on that logic, shouldn't the "1" floor be the sub-basment, with numbers going up from there?

Or maybe sub-basement should be -2, basement -1, and hence the ground floor should be the zeroth floor? (Especially if the building's occupied by C programmers).

 

[KillerCharlie]

I spend about a month a year in England for work and still forget about that difference. Last trip I spent 20 minutes looking for my car in a parking garage.