Word Confusion: Storey versus Story

Posted February 5, 2015 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
12 July 2023

One of those odd differences between the British and the Americans. It’s what keeps the language such fun. It’s curious that storey is strictly restricted to describing the entire floor of any building, and doesn’t spill over into the tales of the American story.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Storey	Story
Women and Children by Rand & Bird — Photographer is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — Women and children in front of a three-storey buildings which means there are three floors in the building.	The Dream Fox Story Book is courtesy of the Boston Library is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.
Part of Grammar:
Noun Plural: storeys, stories Variant spelling: story	Noun ¹, ² Plural: stories
[Chiefly British] Part of a building comprising all the rooms that are on the same level	Noun: Part of a building comprising all the rooms that are on the same level ¹ An account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment ² Plot or story line Report of an item of news in a newspaper, magazine, or news broadcast Piece of gossip A rumor [Informal] A false statement or explanation A lie An account of past events in someone’s life or in the evolution of something A particular person’s representation of the facts of a matter, especially as given in self-defense [Singular noun] A situation viewed in terms of the information known about it or its similarity to another
Examples:
Jim says it’s a three-storey building. This flat takes up the entire storey.	Noun: It was a three-story building. I love a good adventure story. I’m going to tell you a story. The novel has a good story. There have been lots of stories going around, as you can imagine. Ellie never told stories — she had always believed in the truth. The story of modern farming is fascinating. The film is based on a true story. During police interviews, Harper changed his story. Having such information is useful, but it is not the whole story. Many children with leukemia now survive — twenty years ago it was a very different story.
History of the Word:
Late Middle English in a shortening of the Latin historia meaning history, story. A special use in Anglo-Latin, perhaps originally denoting a tier of painted windows or sculptures on the front of a building representing an historical subject.	Late Middle English in a shortening of the Latin historia meaning history, story. A special use in Anglo-Latin, perhaps originally denoting a tier of painted windows or sculptures on the front of a building representing an historical subject. In Middle English, story denotes an historical account or representation. A shortening of Anglo-Norman French estorie, which is from the Latin historia.

Storey

Story

Women and Children by Rand & Bird — Photographer is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

—

Women and children in front of a three-storey buildings which means there are three floors in the building.

The Dream Fox Story Book is courtesy of the Boston Library is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

Part of Grammar:

Noun

Plural: storeys, stories

Variant spelling: story

Noun ¹, ²

Plural: stories

[Chiefly British] Part of a building comprising all the rooms that are on the same level

Noun:
Part of a building comprising all the rooms that are on the same level ¹

An account of imaginary or real people and events told for entertainment ²

Plot or story line
Report of an item of news in a newspaper, magazine, or news broadcast
Piece of gossip
A rumor
[Informal] A false statement or explanation
A lie

An account of past events in someone’s life or in the evolution of something

A particular person’s representation of the facts of a matter, especially as given in self-defense
[Singular noun] A situation viewed in terms of the information known about it or its similarity to another

Examples:

Jim says it’s a three-storey building.

This flat takes up the entire storey.

Noun:
It was a three-story building.

I love a good adventure story.

I’m going to tell you a story.

The novel has a good story.

There have been lots of stories going around, as you can imagine.

Ellie never told stories — she had always believed in the truth.

The story of modern farming is fascinating.

The film is based on a true story.

During police interviews, Harper changed his story.

Having such information is useful, but it is not the whole story.

Many children with leukemia now survive — twenty years ago it was a very different story.

History of the Word:

Late Middle English in a shortening of the Latin historia meaning history, story.

A special use in Anglo-Latin, perhaps originally denoting a tier of painted windows or sculptures on the front of a building representing an historical subject.

Late Middle English in a shortening of the Latin historia meaning history, story.
A special use in Anglo-Latin, perhaps originally denoting a tier of painted windows or sculptures on the front of a building representing an historical subject.
In Middle English, story denotes an historical account or representation.
A shortening of Anglo-Norman French estorie, which is from the Latin historia.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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