1701 House Room

I wrote recently about how a big builder's ads said, "You buy ours, we'll rent yours." And how that sounded an awful lot like auto sales, like a trade-in. Makes you wonder if they'll throw in a free undercoating for your new home to sweeten the deal. Or offer to change your HVAC filters for 5 years. That got me thinking about houses in general and about house words.
Like how we name our rooms. In many ways not very creative, nor consistent. And it's more than houses. Because another thing that triggered my roominations was when I was at a doctor's office and a sign indicated the way to the "waiting room."
There must be some more positive word. Waiting room. Sounds like the most boring place in the world. Some offices use the term “lobby” but that's no good. Like you're sitting in a bank. I once saw the word “lounge.” You expect a different sort of folk cooling their heels there.
For some reason I think of tight pants and chest hair, lounge lizards from the 70s. Definitely the sort of person to keep waiting.
Our houses are no better—the names so utilitarian. Bedroom, Bathroom, Family Room, and my favorite, Living Room. That one’s a broader category than the others. I'm in the bathroom bathing. I'm in the bedroom bedding down. I'm in the living room, um, living...
Interestingly, we also have the name kitchen. Which comes from the German word for cooking. But we don't call it the Cooking Room. There's also the strangest room in the house, the Den. After-dinner man territory. Why not call it The Release of Noxious Gases Room?
And don't even ask me what they do in a Rumpus Room.
"What you doing, honey?"
"Rumpusing..."
America ya gotta love it.