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General Manager
Funkmaster
Aug 28, 2018 17:53
5 yrs ago
10 viewers *
English term

footage

Non-PRO English Bus/Financial Real Estate
Can the word "footage" be used in the meaning "floor area", if the units are square meters?
Responses
5 +5 No!
5 -2 square footage
Change log

Aug 28, 2018 22:10: B D Finch changed "Level" from "PRO" to "Non-PRO"

Votes to reclassify question as PRO/non-PRO:

Non-PRO (3): Tony M, AllegroTrans, B D Finch

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Discussion

danya (asker) Aug 29, 2018:
Thanks to everyone It was most enlightening)
Charles Davis Aug 29, 2018:
@B D I bow to your experience. The construction/home improvement industry is entirely metric, I know (my brother was in the trade), but UK estate agents do seem to use either just square feet or both. And I would say that British people generally still find it easier to think in square feet. I'm thoroughly used to square metres now, but before I left the UK I certainly wasn't, and when first looking for a place to live in Spain I had to do a mental conversion. I may be overstating the case. All I can say is that there are quite a lot of UK results for "square footage" in Google.

However, this is really incidental here, because the question is explicitly about what happens when the units are square metres, and in that case footage, square or otherwise, doesn't arise.
B D Finch Aug 29, 2018:
@Charles I spent about 20 years working on housing improvement and development projects for housing associations and local authority housing departments in England, both rental and shared ownership, starting in the 1980s. During that time, I worked with numerous private sector contractors, in-house and outside surveyors and engineers and we always used metric measurements, never feet and inches (linear, square or cubic). The Housing Corporation similarly only used metric measurements. I know that UK estate agents still, quaintly, give floor measurements in square feet (probably because the numbers are bigger, so it gives the illusion that so are the rabbit hutches they are selling), but even estate agents now also give metric measurements.

One major difference with France was that the UK surveyors and architects never used centimetres, only metres and millimetres.
danya (asker) Aug 29, 2018:
@Charles Thanks a lot! I appreciate your detailed comments, just what I was looking for
Charles Davis Aug 28, 2018:
And New Zealand (sorry, New Zealand).
Charles Davis Aug 28, 2018:
Correction "Square meterage" or "metrage" does exist. But it's uncommon (basically because English-speaking countries don't normally use square metres, with the notable exceptions of Australia, as I say, and also apparently South Africa). It sounds strange to my ear.
Charles Davis Aug 28, 2018:
Why all the fuss? Context is not really needed here, in my opinion.

"Footage", on its own, means film or video. It's never normally used to refer to area (someone might very occasionally use it as shorthand for square footage, but it would be very unusual and not to be imitated).

"Square footage" is perfectly normal usage in the property market, both in the UK (and doubtless Ireland, but not Australia) and in the US and Canada, for area in square feet. But not when the units are square metres, and not usually in formal or legal texts.

There is no equivalent term for square metres. You have to use area, floor area, or whatever, in square metres.

Does anything more need to be said?
danya (asker) Aug 28, 2018:
This is all voluntary Why not just answer my question? It is specific enough, I need a native speaker's opinion on a finer usage point, I may well have no context...
AllegroTrans Aug 28, 2018:
Yes, there is context i.e. who said it and in what circumstances? We out here are not hypothetical sounding boards
danya (asker) Aug 28, 2018:
thank you for your comment sometimes there is no context because there is no text) I was asking this with the formal register in view
AllegroTrans Aug 28, 2018:
Yes, people say it... ...although it's incorrect. I agree with BDF - we need an extract of your text in order to see the overall context, i.e. is this in a document? something said in a casual conversation?
danya (asker) Aug 28, 2018:
thank you for your note Judging by the word "daft", you disapprove of this usage.
B D Finch Aug 28, 2018:
@Asker It's possible. People say and write all sorts of daft things. However, without any context (i.e. an extract of your text including the term in question), it's impossible to know whether it is used that way in your document.

Responses

+5
22 mins
Selected

No!

No!


Explanation:
It would be the wrong dimension anyway! If you want to talk about an area that is expressed in m², then you would need to talk about "square footage" — but that would be frankly rather ridiculous, both in terms of the fact it is in metres, and also, it is very much a lay term — why would you want to avoid simply saying "area" or "floor area" if appropriate?

'footage' can only refer to some linear measurement — for example, the 'footage' of filmed material, where it has long since lost any sense of the actual measurement units.


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2018-08-28 19:43:37 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Asker, the only 2-dimensional use in the refercne you cite specifically collocates it with 'square', as we've all been saying.
The only time I can think it might be used in a 2-dimensional sense is where it is specifying a length of something that has pre-defined width, like say fabrics; even then, I'm more familiar with the term 'yardage' — "ho many yards of material do you need?" — given that the width of the material is taken as read.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 12 hrs (2018-08-29 06:10:00 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

As you have now added the important extra context that you are looking for a formal register, then no, no, and thrice no again!
Note from asker:
My note to your answer disappeared, it must have been to the duplicate one that you deleted. I am ok with floor area, just wondered if I could use footage like I described. Thank you
btw it does have a two-dimensional meaning registered: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/footage
Peer comment(s):
agree Yvonne Gallagher : yes, about to put much the same. Indeed you might hear people say it sometimes but it should never be written that way if in metres.
8 mins
Thanks, Yvonne!
agree philgoddard : But you can arguably talk about a car's mileage even if it measures distances in kilometres.
2 hrs
Thanks Phil! That is our old habit in the UK, but countries like France that have traditionally used km don't have in any issues with using 'kilométrage'.
agree B D Finch : Another alternative is "square metrage". Philgoddard's example of a car's mileage, would only be a very informal, conversational usage, though if I can imagine describing my (French) car as "low-mileage", if trying to sell it to someone British.
4 hrs
Thanks, B!
agree Charles Davis
5 hrs
Thanks, Charles!
agree JohnMcDove
5 hrs
Thanks, John!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thank you!"
-2
2 hrs

square footage

I actually have a different opinion, I often hear/see the term “square footage” used to describe the floor area of properties. It is common in the US, especially for client-facing content. You can’t use “footage” on its own, though, it must be paired with “square”.
Example sentence:

This apartment has ample square footage in a neighborhood where spaces are typically small.

Note from asker:
Thank you for your answer!
Peer comment(s):
disagree B D Finch : In the US they don't measure floor areas in square metres, so this is obviously not about the US.
2 hrs
disagree Tony M : 'SQURE' fottage would be OK, IF this were being measured in ft² — which is not the case!
10 hrs
Something went wrong...
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