babesz
Senior Member
Bratislava, Slovakia
Hungarian
- Oct 3, 2016
- #1
Hello,
how do you call in English the area in a block of flats where the stairs and the elevator is?
Is "corridor" a good word for that?
JulianStuart
Senior Member
Sonoma County CA
English (UK then US)
- Oct 3, 2016
- #2
babesz said:
Hello,
howWhat do you call in English the area in a block of flats where the stairs and the elevator
isare?
Is "corridor" a good word for that?
I would probably call it the hall(way) - I think of a corridor as within a dwelling/apartment/flat, but I don't know how common my view is
babesz
Senior Member
Bratislava, Slovakia
Hungarian
- Oct 3, 2016
- #3
I see, and it would be appropriate to use "hall(way)" in the context of council flats and not only hotels, right?
(Thanks for correcting the question!)
JulianStuart
Senior Member
Sonoma County CA
English (UK then US)
- Oct 3, 2016
- #4
Indeed. The dictionary corridor - WordReference.com Dictionary of English has a lot of overlap with hall(way) and you will find "corridors" in those places. It was your specifying the place where stair entrances and elevators/lifts are found that narrowed my answer
babesz
Senior Member
Bratislava, Slovakia
Hungarian
- Oct 3, 2016
- #5
So both "hall(way)" and "corridor" are good for the staircase area in council housing? I just insist on council housing because I want to make it clear that we are talking about an area where the doors open into flats/apartments, rather than just rooms in a hotel.
GreenWhiteBlue
Banned
The City of New York
USA - English
- Oct 3, 2016
- #6
If one were talking about an apartment house (including a public housing project; we don't have "council flats" here) in the United States, the common area on a floor off of which the individual apartments open is the "hall" or "hallway."
heypresto
Senior Member
South East England
English - England
- Oct 3, 2016
- #7
In BE, I think the area in a block of council flats onto which a lift (elevator) opens would be a 'landing'. The stairs would also go up and down from landing to landing. The whole level on which the flats themselves are distributed would be the 'floor'. As in 'ground floor', first floor', 'thirty-fifth floor' etc.
babesz
Senior Member
Bratislava, Slovakia
Hungarian
- Oct 3, 2016
- #8
Thanks for the confirmation, GreenWhiteBlue.
@heypresto: How would you refer to the hallway in BE council flats that is not on the ground floor? Would you just say "the staircase at the X floor?"
heypresto
Senior Member
South East England
English - England
- Oct 3, 2016
- #9
I don't think we use the word 'hallway', we would just call it the first/second/tenth floor. And we would say 'stairs' instead of 'staircase'.
babesz
Senior Member
Bratislava, Slovakia
Hungarian
- Oct 3, 2016
- #10
I see, thanks. I like these nuances
GreenWhiteBlue
Banned
The City of New York
USA - English
- Oct 3, 2016
- #11
heypresto said:
I don't think we use the word 'hallway', we would just call it the first/second/tenth floor. And we would say 'stairs' instead of 'staircase'.
Heypresto, the area I referred to as a hall or hallway looks like this:
A hallway in public housing.
The same, but more upscale, and private housing.
If you lived in one of those apartments/flats, and walked out of your home into this common area, what would you call it? For example, how would you complete the sentence "As I was heading to my door, I found an address book that someone had dropped [name of location; I would say in the hall/hallway.]"?
heypresto
Senior Member
South East England
English - England
- Oct 3, 2016
- #12
To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. I would guess we would stretch 'landing' and say ' . . . someone dropped on the landing'.
I'm pretty sure, though, that we don't call these areas halls or hallways. Both of these words are, I think, reserved for areas inside flats and houses.
Ever eager to learn new stuff, I'm quite prepared to be disabused of any of this by a BE speaker with more experience knowledge of flat-dwelling.
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