"Legend" and "icon" as in rock/pop/music/sports/entertainment.

"Supermodel"

They're so overused as to mean nothing.

We should all just start making up or re-purposing our own words to fit in with describing things related to home decorating. Besides my like of the word jive instead of jibe ( because jive is just so much more cool) I also really like "jiggy". I would say this to someone who was afraid of branching out from bland. Or, someone who was incredibly talented putting loud vibrant colors together.

Hey Marsha, don't be afraid to get jiggy with it!

Wow Penelope! That is one beautifully jiggy room!

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'

'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many different things.'

'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master — that's all.'

And then Alice said...your shell is thin yet you are sound. You are Fragdense...usable but with care, sort of like a lucite chair.

Another Terri-ism for describing decor ... I call couches in this style "it's a keeper couch". Don't ask me why. I will not say...but my dad has one in blue.

It's a keeper couch.

Wilbur and Anna May got themselves a brand new "it's a keeper couch".

oh my..thank you for that hilarious link on sofa vs couch!!

(suddenly understood the exact word for "couch" in Russian..yes, same root! and yes, as described..how it didn't come to me before? was right there, on the surface)

do you know that when I came here I didn't know what's a stroller? I thought it's a pram. And I didn't know that a flat is called an apartment. and of course I spelled "theatre" , and "colour". We learned British English in school..well whatever we could learn in school. It was a very good school btw, and I knew my grammar much better then. But we spent a lot of time on totally useless things. And of course we didn't really meet any native speaker, during all my ten years there.

So when I first came here-took me several days just to start to understand when somebody spoke..

In Hebrew, you either know a word or don't

in English, you can know every word yet still understand nothing..:)

am going to study Olychik's link!

palimpsest, big thank you for Humpty Dumpty and Alice, I won't say for how many years I love that book..because I'm a real lady or something..:)

I think it's one of the books that really affected me

we had great translators back then. "great" is not a word enough but I don't have enough superlatives. My favorite though is "wonderful". and it very well might be-because of the "Alice"

it's one fascinating discussion

"We should all just start making up or re-purposing our own words to fit in with describing things related to home decorating. "-something to think about, for sure

April, I'd love to hear more of your story before you came here. Was Hebrew your first language?

I thought a flat was an apartment that occupied an entire floor.

I never heard of a "daveno". But my mother always called our sofa a davenport.

Someone mentioned chesterfield as synonymous with sofa. I've always thought a chesterfield (should it be capitalized? Chesterfield?) is a very specific style of sofa:

Chesterfield is regional (parts of Canada for example) for sofa, and Davenport was Midwest and Western NY State for sofa even though both are specific styles or brands of furniture. And Daveno I think was limited only to the Pacific Northwest. And we called a small, upright upholstered piece of furniture a settee, rather than a bench, but in UK settee is a "non-U" term for sofa (which is the "U" term). non-U British English often uses pretentious words for things "serviette" for napkin, "lounge" for living room, etc.

Yes, that's certainly what I'd consider a chesterfield,. IdaClaire. I never heard "daveno," either, but sofa, couch, and davenport have always been interchangeable generic words for any sofa.

ETA And some people of my parents' generation also used "divan," although I don't hear that one much these days.

Linelle, I'm really really afraid to take space with my stories..I write them everywhere or so it seems, and they're usually long and incomprehensible. Sometimes I do possess the ability to express myself briefly; but it comes and goes..:)

Chronologically though-no, first is Russian; then Ukrainian, then English(as taught in my school-but we had this school that had that extended program..you know, when you have foreign language every day, and even more than that when in High school, as opposed to a regular school where you'd have foreign language twice a week

BTW since I was born in Kiev Ukrainian was the official language of the republic, as well as Russian..yet we learned it twice a week (unless you went to a school where main language would be Ukrainian; and there were less of these), and the importance was never put on it as it was on Russian, and not as it was on English..and kids kinda perceived it very well..and it made me quite mad even then. I'm not Ukrainian; but hell, it's the language of your country and your people; have respect. Especially when you profess allover your internationalism and stuff.

It's obviously a regional thing too..say in West Ukraine they spoke Ukrainian much more..I have relatives from there, currently in Israel, and they speak perfect Ukrainian between themselves(while also having perfect Russian, obviously good Hebrew, good English, and even some Romanian, since they're from allover due to their marriages. You can't stand up after dinner, but that's my only beef with them lol. Too yummy and too much. Unbelievable what they do in the kitchen.)

Then Hebrew came-and while at that-it was prohibited to teach Hebrew in Soviet Union. At least until very late eighties when they lifted this " iron curtain" of theirs a bit.

Most of my studying materials, study books, articles when at university (Hebrew University of Jerusalem is my alma mater) were in English by the way. So my school education turned to be pretty helpful

(It might sound strange to normal people-but after all my parents wanted us to be in that school just for the sake of it; most people never imagined stepping their foot outside of the country. The country was closed but for a few. )

But of course Hebrew had to take much bigger space in terms of everything else. So I forgot a lot of my English. But learned a lot of Hebrew.

Then we came here

Then we went back there

Then we came here again. And then things changed drastically

So I stayed. family thing. It's always family thing. I don't remember once when it was mine, and mine only, decision to go somewhere. I was either on board or not. Well maybe California, to some degree.

Then..I hope I'll have something to tell.

At some point, I started learning French as if I knew other languages I was supposed to know..:) no, you start forgetting, and you mix words, and sooner or later your language will reflect your life. But. You immensely appreciate the depth, the abyss that's behind every language. You may not speak correctly-yet you love it more and more. And the more you learn the more you know you don't know enough.

French came a bit too late though..the brain doesn't work as it should..it already started giving me some promises, but stayed there, and then deteriorated.

Sad, since I had plans for Yiddish(my grandparents spoke Yiddish between them. so as for us not to understand, and just so-that was their first language after all.

I did understand something-it was a lot about me doing absolutely nothing around the house..)))))

They should see my DD LOL. they didn't know what "nothing" meant

same as my DD doesn't understand what "I've nothing to wear" really means.

That's all awfully funny.

Anyway. That was supposed to be short post, straight to the point..:)

In Ireland we love our words and are never pretentious we sat on the settee, drank real tea and used our serviettes.

My dad always used davenport, and he was from Ohio. We use couch, sofa sounds stuffy.

I agree with the (far) above posts about "experience." An experience is seeing the Grand Canyon, or the Beach Boys. It is not banking, shopping, or filling the gas tank. Those are errands.

Non decorating term that bugs me is "piggyback" or "piggybacking" I am going to piggyback on her idea... Not sure why, but it drives me nuts!

My best friend's mom (from Iowa) called the couch in her sunroom the "davenport" and the couch in her living room the "sofa." I grew up in Chicago calling it a couch but now live in NC and call it a sofa. Go figure!

My English friends do say "serviette" for napkin and "lounge" for living/family room, and I think it sounds lovely. What I have not quite been able to come to terms with, despite years of traveling to and in the UK, is the widely accepted use of the word "toilet." One would not ask for the "restroom" or (God forbid) the "bathroom" (unless you want to have a bath), but "May I use your toilet?" is perfectly acceptable. I have a southern American upbringing, and somehow the word "toilet" has always seemed a bit like a dirty word. Silly, I know, but it's a peculiarity that has stayed with me and even now I cringe inwardly just slightly whenever I actually say the word.

Actually, I grew up calling the potty the "commode" -- something rarely heard these days.

What do you all call a decorating dilemma where two impossible people are greatly at odds and need help with blending two decor styles in one home?

My Terri-ism is "D&C", derived from uterus scraping but named after my old neighbors Dave & Connie. A D&C is extreme decorating intervention involving the blending of two completely different styles with two pig headed people.

This couple would get in wicked fights over every single decor decision.

Example: Honey I'll be home shortly, gotta do another D&C for Dave and Connie. This time it's over the living room paint color. Hope they are both still alive when I get there.

Besides the terms he said she she said what decorating term do you use for the above situation?

I am not saying that people who use 'serviette', 'settee', and 'lounge' currently are pretentious. But the origins of those usages are based upon English "U" and "non-U" speech, and "U" speech is more plain-speaking while "non-U" tended to use some elevated words (in this case French) to sound a little more refined. It was all part of discussions about social dialectics in the 1950s in Great Britain. Most people, are middle class (non-U in social dialectics), and if you are middle class you use middle class terminology, that's whats natural. They apparently did not discuss lower class speech much.

Interestingly when it comes to "toilet", that's also the middle class term, while the upper class term is "lavatory" or "loo" , and "loo" is slang in origin, with debated origins, One that it was derived from "Gardez l'eau!" when chamber pots were emptied out windows (French) or "lieu d'aisance" or "place of comfort" (French) or from Waterloo, which is either attributed to a brand of cistern, or rhyming slang (which was mostly Cockney in origin). Toilet is also from the French "to groom or perform hygiene". So again, it seems like the "U" "loo" is probably from slang, and the "non-U" is from the French.

After living for decades in the U.S, toilet sounds so so wrong when one needs the restroom. When I visit my parents I am often told that I am now so American when I ask to use the restroom/bathroom. My mom says loo all the time and it sounds so "off". Amazing (another of those words that is overused) how language evolves.

Pal, what does "U" stand for?

I lived in Sheffield, England, in a distinctly working-class environment. "Serviette," "settee," and "lounge" were definitely used for napkin, couch, and living room. I got used to using "toilet" for bathroom, but it always sounded funky.

My husband is from the U.K. His whole family says Loo. When I was first invited into the lounge I thought their home had a bar. But, a bar isn't a bar it's a pub. The yard is called the garden. I thought I would see cucumbers and tomatoes. It was just grass. Pub gardens are the best...grass, tables and beer.

You might see a cow sitting at a table but that is another story with several meanings.

U stands for Upper which in 20th century England meant property, lineage, public school or tutor educated, possibly a title, old money, but not necessarily much wealth, I think; while non-U stands for middle class. They didn't seem to discuss lower class social dialects. I don't think having wealth was the bigger part of it because many people with wealth would be "non-U". It probably has less meaning now and in America of course it's pretty meaningless all around.

We said "toilet"

which made sense since it was never in the bathroom then. Separate small room, with a toilet inside. No sink.

Powder rooms-I saw them much later. Or bathrooms that have a toilet inside.

Now naturally I'll say "bathroom" or "restroom" since I live here, but in my family we still use "toilet", unless we mean using a bath as a bath, or a shower, or whatever other activities we seek to do there (that was an awesome sentence lol)

And "public" school is actually private school in UK.

palimpsest

"Spa-like"

And from real estate listing around here, "luxury apartment/condo" . The word luxury is meaningless now.

Add the term "Chef's Kitchen" when it has a generic 30" stove w /micro-venthood above

A true chef's kitchen is something most people wouldn't want in their homes - you would get a lot of morgue references with all the stainless in forums

Carolina Kitchen & Bath

My
best friend's mom (from Iowa) called the couch in her sunroom the
"davenport" and the couch in her living room the "sofa." I grew up in
Chicago calling it a couch but now live in NC and call it a sofa. Go
figure!

Growing up in Chicago, I'll bet that couch was in your 'front room' aka LR, and when referring to it came out sounding like 'fruntch room'

Personally for me 'dust' - people who look at my threads will get it. ;-)

Here's some more Nosoccer...bangers, biscuit, boot, caravan, fag, holiday, jumper, lorry, pudding, rubbish, vest, zed.

Answers: sausage, cookie/cracker, trunk, trailer/motor home, cigarette, vacation, sweater, truck, desert, trash, undershirt and Z.

I'm not sure if my husband made this up but he calls sleeveless vests (sleeveless undershirts) that are worn in public "wife beater" shirts.

"A true chef's kitchen is something most people wouldn't want in their homes - you would get a lot of morgue references with all the stainless in forums"-LOL. agreed

This thread has been fun to read. I'm catching up from the past few days.

I thought couch vs sofa was mostly a regional thing, and we always called it a couch, except if you had one that made into a bed, it was called a sofa-bed. So go figure that! When a good friend's family moved into our town from the Midwest, they called it a Davenport. Never could get used to that.

I guess I have watched too much HGTV because the term 'open concept' really annoys me. Also, Southern style, pop of color, and wow factor. Being from the south, is our 'style' really all that different? And yes to using the word 'updated' to describe real estate listings. So misleading. That could mean anything from 'a new faucet and dishwasher 2 years ago' to new flooring throughout or more. I have probably used some of these terms mentioned early on. Dated, grandma, classic - Guilty!

Wife beater is a white sleeveless ribbed undershirt here, too.

Food for thought on the pejorative "wife beater." (Hey, if "old lady" can cause an uprising, this can too.) ;-)

(Don't click the link if brief use of the f-word offends you.)

chijim

My vocabulary is primarily midwest although my mother was born in Philadelphia, and her mother was as well and her mother had an upper-class Philadelphia manner of speech which was antiquated and is now extinct for the most part, and some of those things persisted. And also they both just had their own way of referring to things.

We often called the living room the front room, and the foyer or vestibule was always called the front hall or "by the front door". But my mother regularly called any room but the one she was in "the Other room" so if she wanted you to go get something or you asked where something was she would always say "It's in the other room". We also had "the Extra room" which was also "the room over the garage" and the house my mother grew up had "the Back room" which was a junk room and technically on the side of the house but the most remote room in the house. Actually there were two "back rooms" one on top of the other and you were supposed to know by context whether they meant the laundry room/pantry or the upstairs junk room. We also called the fully finished and furnished walk out basement the cellar. But my mother also said "dead" very matter-of-factly and disturbed some of my friends when she would just say "Oh she's dead" or "I'll be dead by then" as matter-of factly as if she had said "Oh they are in the other room." No one ever passed away, or left us, in my family, they died. But she also strangely called clear glass bowls and measuring cups "white."

In terms of the bathroom, I think my mother always said "The ladies' room" even at home, and my grandmother said nothing. If she had to say something she said "Excuse me", but usually she would just try to leave and come back without comment. I try to do this myself, just go use it. If I feel like I need to say something at work, I say "I will be back in a few minutes" I work with people who feel like they need to tell me and I usually say "I don't care, just say I'll be right back" if I am feeling cranky.

I grew up in an isolated small town and many people I knew called the living room the parlor, a family room the TV room and a fixed up basement or rec room the cellar. Most people said "bathroom" because they only had one, laughed when they heard me say "powder room", and "Lavvy" was not uncommon, short for lavatory. This is probably all archaic there now, because of media.

Technically the name for a wife-beater is an "A-shirt".

That "dead" thing brings me to justerrilynn's question(even though I don't know what Terry-ism means?)..with me, it'd be a lot "you want me dead!" lol or "over my dead body"

When somebody wanted to manipulate somebody else in our family when I was little, or make them do something, or prevent them from doing something, and nothing worked, my grandma and Mom had this final card no one dared to beat..it sounded something like " that would be my death then!"..and performed the role of an ancient taboo..I couldn't do anything when I heard it..it stopped me in my tracks lol. They were literally drawing around me a magical circle with this phrase

I hated it

I swore I won't be like them when I grow up

well..i try..:)

as for the rooms..that was simple..the rooms were called by the name of who inhabited them

except for the living even though actually my parents slept there

Our family used "died and dead" too. Perhaps because we were not religious, the idea of "passing" didn't mean anything. Pass to where? I do sometimes say "passed away" if I think the person I am talking to would prefer it. Amongst ourselves, people just die.

I had forgotten about lavatory. That was another one that Dad used. I never heard it except from that branch of the family. We did say front room, even though in our house it was on the back.

Technically the name for a wife-beater is an A-hole. :-)

Perhaps because we were not religious, the idea of "passing" didn't mean anything.

Nah. My very Catholic parents did this as well. I think they thought that "passing away" was the kind of verbiage that went with tea cozies and lots of crochet and embroidered texts in the house.

As a side note, I never heard just "passing" from anyone when I was young. To me this seems to be a later revision of "passing away." BTW, interestingly enough "pass out" originally meant "die," as in, "Yes, doctor, I'm afraid she's passing out now," ca. 1910 or so.

And my students from the islands used "fall out" where we would now say "pass out." As in, "No matter what the doctors did, I kept falling out, so finally they realized someone must have put the roots on me."

IdaClaire

Food for thought on the pejorative "wife beater." (Hey, if "old lady" can cause an uprising, this can too.) ;-)

(Don't click the link if brief use of the f-word offends you.)

In Chicago they were known by something else that was disparaging to Italians.

There have been a few threads like this over the years on the GW. I swear there's nothing better than when a bunch of wordsmiths discuss words. :)

writersblock, practicing Catholic here, too. My mother carried rosary beads in her pocket or purse at all times. So I am not sure it is religious as much as cultural.

We had "the other room" at our place too. We also had "the furnace room" which was really the back room that had the furnace, water heater, washing machine and laundry tub along with the back door that led to the back porch before you got to the garage. Not to be confused with "the porch" which was the screen porch off the kitchen and dining area.

When my sons were young and living at home there were days when it seemed my husband and boys were incapable of making any decisions without me. Sometimes it would get to be too much and I would say or yell..pretend I'm dead and you have to think for yourself.

Fast forward and imagine the jokes I have had to endure over my "pretend I'm dead" comments.

Sometimes all I have to do is a loud exhale while expressing my impatience and there is a chorus of "pretend she's dead".

I used dead a lot and am now paying the price.

Well, not fully, I'm not dead yet.

Rosary beads, yes, always rosary beads- ha! I didn't hear passed on until the movies- people died. We always called it the living room, but sometimes the front room. And the bathroom, even if there was no bathtub in there. A great book about much of this house naming, etc is "At Home" by Bill Bryson.

thank you maddie..saved in my Amazon shopping card

now that would be completely off topic..but since I'm the OP I forgive myself for it lol..recent comments about "dead" and all led me to realize something..in Hebrew, people would often say, in more official statements or if religious, "went to the world"..but interestingly, it's not "the other world", or "the better world". It's "went to his world" or "went to her world" or "went to their world"

as if it's something very personal..in the afterlife..

I never thought of it before..so that's another thing to contemplate on, for me

and another reason to say thank you, as I might understand something new..and maybe important while contemplating

I recently read an obituary in which it was said that the deceased had "answered the master's invitation." My immediate thought was, "Um, tell him I'm busy that morning." ;-)

Dated. Valid uses of the word: 1) Joe dated Ellen, and they ate pizza. 2) That washing machine is so dated it uses a washboard instead of electric. 3) Certainly that set up hasn't been up to code since 1970.

Not so valid: 1) My aunt Edna stole those white subway tiles back in 1953 from the Lexington line.... 2) I plum don't like that, whatever "that" is. Possibly because i never was fond, after all, of Aunt Edna. 3) Or, maybe I just want an excuse?

Re sofa vs couch.. I also thought it was a regional thing. I've used them interchangeably myself. I have what I called a sofa bed... now that I am replacing it with something from IKEA I learn it is a sleeper sofa. Whatever, whichever.

Re wife-beater. When I first discovered what garment went with that term, I resolved never to lower myself to call a garment such a thing, just the thug who had to think he had to resort to beating his wife, no matter what he was garbed in. Garments don't beat people. And so forth. So... shapeless sleeveless top for men works well enough for me - although I just simply don't call attention to it at all.

In certain contexts, "passing" may be polite. I left the church of my forebearers years ago, but sometimes a blatant "died" may be too close if the event happened recently. I try to go by what my friends/relatives/others would prefer to have this unfortunate event be termed as.

Wife-beater is such an offensive term. To my ears it is a racist slur against non-WASPs, not the description of a garment.