# Antiquated room names **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 11, 2017, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191 "2017-12-11T13:24:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/1 "2017-12-11T13:24:01Z")
Does anyone live in a house that has a _parlor_? How about a _drawing room_? Does anyone announce their intentions to ‘join me on the _veranda_ for a mint julep’? Any other arcane rooms with long-forgotten functions? Looks like dining rooms are quickly becoming the next room to go the way of the parlor. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/2 "2017-12-11T13:28:34Z")
I’ve never been in someone’s home that had a room referred to as a parlor or drawing room, but I wouldn’t blink an eye if someone talked about their veranda. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/3 "2017-12-11T15:10:33Z")
I had a friend from Boston who always referred to the living room as the parlor. What about that old 50s term, “rumpus room”? Is a \*rumpus \*anything like a _ruckus_? ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/4 "2017-12-11T15:26:17Z")
Does anyone have a conservatory as part of their house? My grandparents had a “front room” which I would have called a living room. I don’t recall them having a name for the room between the front room and the kitchen - I’ll have to ask my mom what they called it. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/5 "2017-12-11T15:31:24Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Does anyone have a conservatory as part of their house? Absolutely. It was next to the billiard room and the ball room. It even had a secret passage that connected it to the lounge.😃 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/6 "2017-12-11T15:31:28Z")
Thread from 2005. [What is the difference between a salon, parlor, drawing room, sitting room, boudoir?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=343236) ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/7 "2017-12-11T15:51:45Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I’ve never been in someone’s home that had a room referred to as a parlor or drawing room, but I wouldn’t blink an eye if someone talked about their veranda. Indeed. I’ll use the word “veranda”, but we’d be sippin’ on the deck out back. Our house has a butler’s pantry, but no butler. We plan to rip it out as we “take down the wall between the kitchen and the family room to give us a more open concept”. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/8 "2017-12-11T15:53:44Z")
Dumbwaiter? ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/9 "2017-12-11T15:56:46Z")
We call our living room the “library,” because I have one wall completely full of bookshelves and I’m an anglophile. The family room is the “TV room” so why not? Here’s a puzzle: 18th century house plans sometimes have a basement room called the “powder room.” I’ve never been able to figure out if that’s a place to store gunpowder (in the house? in a damp basement?) or a place people went to have their wigs powdered because it was so messy. It was a large, centrally located room, so definitely none of the modern connotations of toilet-but-no-shower. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/10 "2017-12-11T16:30:16Z")
> [@Cardigan](#): > > Absolutely. It was next to the billiard room and the ball room. It even had a secret passage that connected it to the lounge.😃 [Here’s](https://peopledotcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/ball-pit-1024.jpg?crop=0px%2C0px%2C1024px%2C537.6px&resize=1200%2C630) where my brain went on reading ball room. 😃 I’m guessing [this](https://www.flaglermuseum.us/images/stories/general_images/grand-ballroom_000.jpg)is what you had in mind. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/11 "2017-12-11T16:34:34Z")
‘Parlor’ is synonymous with ‘living room’ in parts of New England. When I was growing up ‘living room’ didn’t make any sense because we weren’t allowed to live in there unless we had company. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/12 "2017-12-11T16:38:46Z")
I didn’t know veranda was antiquated. It was used on Golden Girls, I just assumed it was a Southern term. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/13 "2017-12-11T16:51:16Z")
I once spent Christmas in a stately British home that had a cloak room off the main hall. The cloaks (well, jacket in my case) were stashed atop a large glass case containing a stuffed tiger. That was quite a place. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/14 "2017-12-11T17:04:12Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Does anyone have a conservatory as part of their house? We have a sun-room filled with plants, our budgie flock, and an African grey parrot. I often refer to the room as the conservatory (just to be a dick). ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/15 "2017-12-11T17:06:15Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > [Here’s](https://peopledotcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/ball-pit-1024.jpg?crop=0px%2C0px%2C1024px%2C537.6px&resize=1200%2C630) where my brain went on reading ball room. 😃 I was reminded of the guy who squeezes onto a crowded elevator and says, “Ballroom please”. The young lady standing near him apologizes and shifts away. ---
**Author:** ![Monstera\_deliciosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monstera_deliciosa/32/109_2.png) [@Monstera\_deliciosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monstera_deliciosa)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/16 "2017-12-11T17:08:52Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > I didn’t know veranda was antiquated. It was used on Golden Girls, I just assumed it was a Southern term. I don’t remember the Golden Girls using the word ‘veranda’ to refer to their patio. It was always the lanai. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/17 "2017-12-11T17:16:13Z")
Obligatory movie quote: Rosita: I was thinking later, you could kiss me on the veranda. Dusty Bottoms: Lips would be fine. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/18 "2017-12-11T18:02:49Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > I once spent Christmas in a stately British home that had a cloak room off the main hall. The cloaks (well, jacket in my case) were stashed atop a large glass case containing a stuffed tiger. > > That was quite a place. Don’t cloakrooms often have a toilet at the very back? Did you look? ---
**Author:** ![SantaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/da6949/32.png) [@SantaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SantaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/19 "2017-12-11T18:06:14Z")
You may find [this](http://mcmansionhell.com/post/163076545466/looking-around-transitional-plans) and [this](http://mcmansionhell.com/post/164691953581/guest-post-how-to-date-a-rowhouse-other-than) interesting. Room nomenclature as per design styles of various eras. P.S\> McMansion Hell is a really fun site ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/20 "2017-12-11T18:06:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Does anyone have a conservatory as part of their house? > [@kayaker](#): > > We have a sun-room filled with plants, I often refer to the room as the conservatory (just to be a dick). In certain countries where they speak the Queen’s English,and there is much rain, conservatories are very common. There are construction companies which do nothing by build and maintain conservatories. pics here: [https://www.exceed.co.nz/page/conservatory-repairs/](https://www.exceed.co.nz/page/conservatory-repairs/) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191.md?page=2)