Day of the Dead (1985)
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In hopes of avoiding "I know it when I see it" linguistic dodges, I've been trying to find out what exactly constitutes "stairs." It seems a little silly, sure, but for a site specifically about stairs, it's important to get it right, right? (Right.)
dictionary.com has it that stairs are "one of a flight or series of steps for going from one level to another, as in a building." Then they define "flight" as (in #11) "a series of steps between one floor or landing of a building and the next." They follow this, unhelpfully, with the definition of a "landing" as (3a) "a platform between flights of stairs" or (3b) "the floor at the head or foot of a flight of stairs."
All of that is, as you've no doubt noticed, circular. So removing buildings from the equation (since it's given as an example but not as the defining characteristic) leaves us with "a series of steps for going from one level to another," which these steps certainly are. Yet for some reason I feel a bit uncomfortable calling two or three steps "stairs" (which would mean, in retrospect, that I shouldn't have posted the Ace Ventura screengrab).
Yet at OSHA's page on walking-working surfaces, I find "Every flight of stairs with four or more risers shall have standard stair railings or standard handrails as specified below. Stair width is measured clear of all obstructions except handrails."
So for OSHA a flight of stairs can have as few as four steps, which is a definition I'm willing to accpet (ignoring, for the moment, the question of whether I'm indulging in the dreaded Appeal to Authority logical fallacy--that is, the question of wheather OSHA are actually an authority on stairs. Do I trust that the government sometimes does its homework? This time I will).
Hence: from here out, shots here will be of constructions with at least four steps (even if not all of them are in the screengrab).
And now I feel as if I've proven that water at room temperature is in fact most often wet.
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dictionary.com has it that stairs are "one of a flight or series of steps for going from one level to another, as in a building." Then they define "flight" as (in #11) "a series of steps between one floor or landing of a building and the next." They follow this, unhelpfully, with the definition of a "landing" as (3a) "a platform between flights of stairs" or (3b) "the floor at the head or foot of a flight of stairs."
All of that is, as you've no doubt noticed, circular. So removing buildings from the equation (since it's given as an example but not as the defining characteristic) leaves us with "a series of steps for going from one level to another," which these steps certainly are. Yet for some reason I feel a bit uncomfortable calling two or three steps "stairs" (which would mean, in retrospect, that I shouldn't have posted the Ace Ventura screengrab).
Yet at OSHA's page on walking-working surfaces, I find "Every flight of stairs with four or more risers shall have standard stair railings or standard handrails as specified below. Stair width is measured clear of all obstructions except handrails."
So for OSHA a flight of stairs can have as few as four steps, which is a definition I'm willing to accpet (ignoring, for the moment, the question of whether I'm indulging in the dreaded Appeal to Authority logical fallacy--that is, the question of wheather OSHA are actually an authority on stairs. Do I trust that the government sometimes does its homework? This time I will).
Hence: from here out, shots here will be of constructions with at least four steps (even if not all of them are in the screengrab).
And now I feel as if I've proven that water at room temperature is in fact most often wet.
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