"Floormat" is an alternative spelling -- and pronunciation -- of "format." It is a common error among people whose work experience and involvement in projects far exceeds their level of education. It arises from the common sense hearing of an unfamiliar word, where the hearer begins to understand the connotation of the unfamiliar term or expression before ever seeing the printed word, so that a similar sounding word or expression is seized upon and remembered in the place of the correct word.
In this case, "floormat" is a thing that is always placed at the bottom, and things can be built on it, whereas "format" is the fundamental underlying process or paradigm to which all additions and changes must conform . . . which is to say, "must be built upon." So, "floormat" has been independently substituted for "format" in the minds of thousands of Americans who find themselves swimming above their heads in a sea of new words, while the current of work is moving faster than their ability to stop and catch up on reading if they are to keep afloat.
Those who hear the misuse tend to wink at it, rather than correct it, understanding the confusion, but not wishing to interrupt the flow or to be impolite enough to presume to "teach" those whose credentials suffice for membership, without the benefit of ever having been forced to compete in, say, the Australian Crawl. After all, if all you need to get from Point A to Point B is dog-paddling, and you have a deadline by which to do it, do you really care if someone from line staff -- who really knows the population you are trying to affect and whom you may never see again -- says "It is important that we make sure that every team at each location follows the same floormat," when they really mean "format"?
Примеры использования:
It is important that we make sure that every team at each location follows the same floormat.
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