@Cerberus Thank you. Makes sense to me.

@tchrist I didn't expect you to be that surprised. Maybe you thought I actually sleep on bare tiles!

I guess a bed is an indispensable piece of furniture in a Westerner's house. When I was a little kid, most people I knew didn't have beds, dining tables, or sofas and couches. No wonder why some of the words concerning that type of customs don't have English equivalents: english.stackexchange.com/questions/290368/…

@Færd If you slept on a mattress, then he would probably have expected to hear that, and not the tiles beneath it.

Because tiles can be anywhere, they don't indicate a sleeping-place.

@Cerberus Usually there's a thin sheet of carpet between me and the tiles, so I wasn't exaggerating a lot. And sometimes a thicker (Persian) carpet. And a foldable mattress or a bed for special occasions.

Or should I have said comforter instead of foldable mattress? Anyway, that's what people who don't sleep on beds normally use around here.

Why don't they sleep on beds?

I sometimes sleep on a mattress on the ground too, when I don't want to sleep in my bedroom.

No special reason. I guess a bed wasn't a thing for us (or some of us) until recently, the last three decades or so.

And probably partly due to the fact that they kept the floors clean, took off their shoes before entering the house etc (many still do so), so there wasn't much reason not to sit, eat, or sleep on the ground.

Oh OK, it's just tradition.

But didn't they find it easier to get out of bed and into bed when the bad is at chair level?

That's the only reason to use a bed.

Maybe they didn't really think about it. I personally prefer to eat at a table, sleep on the ground, read on an armchair, etc. I don't know about others' preferences.

Hi. Which of these is correct?

What's that term which is used before drinking liquor? something like "porpose a tost ?"

ok I found it.

@FaheemMitha The first sounds like pirate-speak, e.g. the captain asking the first mate to relay his (the captain's) reply. The second second is a request for a reply in more conventional speech.