the.com/flooring
The surface you stand on, judged more harshly than almost anything else in a home.
means The material covering the floor of a room — wood, tile, carpet, or vinyl — plus, informally, the sensation of being so shocked you might as well have been knocked onto it.
from Built from 'floor,' which traces back to Old English 'flor,' meaning flat surface or ground — related to similar words in other Germanic languages for flat, level ground. The '-ing' turns the noun into its own material category, the way 'roof' becomes 'roofing.' The figurative sense — being 'floored' by news — rides on the same image: something hits you hard enough to put you on the ground.
- resale impact
- New flooring often returns more value than new paint
- hardwood myth
- Most hardwood floors are actually a thin veneer layer
- ancient version
- Romans used mosaic tile flooring over 2000 years ago
- sound clue
- Squeaky floors mean loose subfloor nails, not ghosts