| 词组 | ceiling, floor |
| 释义 | ceiling, floor The abuse of underlying metaphors when ceiling means "a prescribed upper limit" and, to a lesser extent, when floor means "a prescribed lower limit" is primarily a British concern. We find Gowers 1954, Sir Bruce Fraser in Gowers 1973, Gowers in Fowler 1965, Howard 1980, Bryson 1984, and Longman 1984 all working the issue over. With commendable economy of effort both Fowler 1965 and Howard 1980 use the sentence "The effect of this announcement is that the total figure of £410 million can be regarded as a floor as well as a ceiling," and Bryson 1984 credits them both while rerunning it yet again. The mixed metaphors in this example, as well as talk about raising, lowering, and removing floors and ceilings, simply show that the meaning has become so well established its metaphorical origin has been forgotten. You can find some amusing examples in the books mentioned above, if you are interested. Copperud 1980 opines: "Regardless, usefulness has solidly established both terms." We can only agree. Most of our recent examples do not contain a problem. Here is a sample: • ... the establishment by Congress of a ceiling on outlays and a floor on revenues —Edwin L. Dale, Jr., N.Y. Times Mag., 22 Aug. 1976 • ... our subsidy programs must be expanded by raising the ceilings on both income and price —Abraham Ribicoff, Saturday Rev., 22 Apr. 1972 • ... faintly better dressed than the older generation, with a faintly higher ceiling on his ambitions — Penelope Gilliatt, New Yorker, 11 Sept. 1971 • Many banks... have threatened to move their credit card operations to other states unless New York raises or abandons the ceiling on consumer credit charges —Karen W. Arenson, N. Y. Times, 16 Nov. 1980 |
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