The Nice People Thread, No.16: A Universe of Niceness.

zagubov

I seem to remember donkeys years ago when people described their house/flat/dwelling/whatever they used to number the reception rooms/bedrooms and call it say a four-apartment meaning it had a living room, dining room and two bedrooms.

I suppose this fell out of fashion when open-plan and kitchen-diners took off. Never heard it used in modern times.

Pyxis

zagubov wrote: »

I seem to remember donkeys years ago when people described their house/flat/dwelling/whatever they used to number the reception rooms/bedrooms and call it say a four-apartment meaning it had a living room, dining room and two bedrooms.

I suppose this fell out of fashion when open-plan and kitchen-diners took off. Never heard it used in modern times.

I've never heard that before!
Maybe a four-roomed apartment/flat.

As you say, though, with open-plan rooms, it's difficult to quantify rooms in some flats/apartments.

(I'm scared to say flats now! )

In some countries, they don't mention room numbers at all; they just give the internal area of the flat/apartment.
I remember once when
I was thinking of letting my house to a couple from Norway, and they wanted to know what the internal area was. I didn't have a clue!
I started measuring, but didn't know if they wanted gross area or net.

I gave up in the end, and chose a different tenant! (There were other problems associated with those ones, not just that I cba to measure! )

Pyxis

So I googled "difference between flats and apartments" and yes the main difference is that in Britain we say flat, in general parlance, and in the US they say apartment, plus estate agents use the term to make a flat sound posh.

However, on one forum discussion, some people said that they associated 'flat' with a Council flat, and 'apartment' with a private flat.

I must say, I have never, ever heard that nuance before, and in my youth I worked in property matters for some years!
Unless it is a very recent differentiation?



There appear to be other differences, too. In the US, apparently, a duplex is a semidetached house, whereas here it is a flat, sorry apartment, on two floors, (one of which may be a mezzanine), in posh parlance. Elsewhere, here, it might be called a maisonette.


I remember when I first came across a condominium, on my one and only trip to the States. Never heard of a condo before, and had to ask what it meant. Thought it might have something to do with condoms! :rotfl:
I visited someone in one, and was amazed to see a group of blocks around a swimming-pool and sports area, and to be told it had its own hall for get-togethers.
I suppose over here, they would be sheltered housing complexes! But over there, there are no age or physical ability restrictions! :rotfl:

SingleSue

Pyxis wrote: »

How many people are sharing his [STRIKE]flat [/STRIKE]apartment!

11. It's normally a 12 person one but they have a wheelchair user who has had two rooms knocked into one.

Pyxis

SingleSue wrote: »

11. It's normally a 12 person one but they have a wheelchair user who has had two rooms knocked into one.

12? :eek: :eek:

That carpet won't be plush for very long, then! :rotfl:


How many bathrooms are there?
:eek:

zagubov

I got the impression that in the US semi-detached houses aren't very common, and they don't seem to have many terraced houses (row houses) either. In fact I'm not sure how common semi-detached houses are outside the UK.

Pyxis

zagubov wrote: »

I got the impression that in the US semi-detached houses aren't very common, and they don't seem to have many terraced houses (row houses) either. In fact I'm not sure how common semi-detached houses are outside the UK.

I looked up these 'duplex' houses.

They appear to be quite traditional gabled houses, with lots of clapboard cladding, designed to look like one big house.


I remember once, an American telling me they lived in a 'row' house, in Baltimore, and I didn't have a clue what she meant!

It turned out to be quite an old house, and quite prestigious, in the same way that a Georgian terraced house in Bath might be.

I suppose another posh word for a deluxe terraced house here might be a town house, although I think town houses are often on three floors with an integral garage on the ground floor.

SingleSue

Pyxis wrote: »

12? :eek: :eek:

That carpet won't be plush for very long, then! :rotfl:


How many bathrooms are there?
:eek:

Everyone has their own thankfully, would have been a nightmare for Joe if he hadn't (and we purposely chose halls that had en suites) due to his bowel disorder.

PasturesNew

I'm end of terrace... so not a semi

If you drove past in a hurry the row of four could look like a pair of large semis .... due to the particular nuances of design and layout.

There are quite a number "L shaped" houses round here, which are a bit peculiar...

Two L shapes interlocked.
From the front one house is, say, 12' wide and the other 15' wide.... round the back the 15' wide house has reduced to 12' and the 12' one widened to 15'. It's enabled developers to get two 3-beds into a smaller width of plot.

vivatifosi

I'm not convinced that semi detached houses are common in the US. Can't remember ever seeing one. When I've looked at houses over there, the expression town house was used to mean a terraced house, normally of two storeys. But they also call ground and first floors, first and second.

Two countries divided by a common language. No wonder while trouser shopping with an American friend, she shouted across the shop "Viva, are these pants too tight on my fanny"?