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Ask for help > They are all stairs but...
They are all stairs but...
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TMMF
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They are all stairs but...
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Hi dear friends! Could you please give me some help on the best way to explain the difference / similarity of the following words: stairs / stairway / staircase / stairwell Thanks a million!! |
12 Jan 2015
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yanogator
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The first three are the same - a set of steps. A stairwell is a shaft through a building that contains a stairway.
Bruce |
12 Jan 2015
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FrauSue
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For me, "stairs" describes a set of individual steps which make up a passage to the next floor. Examples: go up the stairs, come down the stairs, the child is sitting on the stairs, the coat cupboard is under the stairs, we need to clean the stairs. A "staircase" is a set of stairs seen as a unity. You cannot "go up a staircase", for example. Examples: this staircase is 18th-century, the staircase in the new house is not very safe A "stairwell" is the shaft, as Bruce says. Examples: He fell down the stairwell, please don �t leave bikes in the stairwell. I wouldn �t use the word "stairway" in UK English except in the phrase "stairway to heaven"! |
13 Jan 2015
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yanogator
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I disagree with FrauSue on staircase. There is even a book (and movie) called Up the Down Staircase, and a line in them - "You are going up the down staircase."
I will agree, though, that "go up those stairs" is far more common than "go up that staircase."
Bruce |
13 Jan 2015
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cunliffe
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I would be much more likely to use �staircase � in a context which means a staircase as an entity, as in �We need to decorate the staircase � and that means the walls. I think �stairwell � is the bit at the bottom of the stairs and �stairway � is unusual, but coming in. Is it creeping Americanisation? I think we have more or less a consensus here!
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13 Jan 2015
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FrauSue
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Thanks for your comment, Bruce - I wonder if it is a UK/US English issue. "Go up the staircase" sounds strange to my UK ears as it doesn �t imply climbing, somehow, but rather a continuous movement. I went up the stairs, but the dado rail went all the way up the staircase. But often I (Scottish) disagree with my husband (English) on vocabulary issues, so it could be a regional difference. TMMF - I hope this helps you rather than confusing you! |
14 Jan 2015
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