Interstitial

When I worked at Hewlett-Packard, the area in between the first and second floors (or, for you europeans, the ground and the first floors) was called the "interstitial". There were a lot of wires and pipes and deadly chemicals (beause we did some semiconductor fab onsite). The interstitial was about 8-feet high, so I never really understood why they didn't just make it an official floor.

I always thought that name was strange because "interstitial" was an adjective that wasn't modifiying anything until someone told me that "interstitial" was short for "interstitial floor". I thought that that was even stranger since "interstitial" is itself sesquipedalian. The obvious abbreviation is IF which is not only shorter, but it's also especially meaningful to fan's of Ender's Game.

A couple of years ago there was a brief fad on certain largish and hypeish web sites (cough... Wired) of what they called "Interstitials", or advertisements that were displayed between requesting a page and when that page finished rendering.

I suppose in this sense "Interstitial" was a noun the same way "Commercial" is.

In`ter*sti"tial (?), a.

Of or pertaining to interstices; intermediate; within the tissues; as, interstitial cavities or spaces in the tissues of animals or plants.

 

© Webster 1913.