# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/21 "2017-12-11T18:14:28Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > What about that old 50s term, “rumpus room”? Is a \*rumpus \*anything like a _ruckus_? I don’t think “den” or “rec room” are as used as they used to be either. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/22 "2017-12-11T21:31:32Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Does anyone have a conservatory as part of their house? My parents do, they had it built about 10 years back. Very common in England. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2017, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/23 "2017-12-11T23:50:04Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > What about that old 50s term, “rumpus room”? Is a \*rumpus \*anything like a _ruckus_? You raise a _ruckus_ in the _rumpus_ room. Unless, you’ve done it so much it’s now the [del]wreck[/del] rec room. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/24 "2017-12-12T00:51:55Z")
Is the term “Greatroom” used any more, or is that back to being the Family Room? Do people outside of CA still have a Mud Room? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/25 "2017-12-12T00:56:40Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > … (just to be a dick). Mission accomplished. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/26 "2017-12-12T01:51:29Z")
If you need me I’ll be in the refractory. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/27 "2017-12-12T01:56:30Z")
My grandparents has a sunroom – a room with two walls that were windows from about waist high to the ceiling. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/28 "2017-12-12T02:04:46Z")
I grew up in a home that had a ‘maids quarters’ or perhaps ‘servant’s quarters’ on the prints. It was a excellent teenage bedroom. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/29 "2017-12-12T02:40:12Z")
My room in the house where I grew up actually was a [garret.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garret) It would have been more fun if we had called it that. 🙂 It was actually pretty spacious. The main problem in the winter was that it was unheated. And the squirrels that lived in the eaves. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/30 "2017-12-12T03:00:37Z")
I lived in a house that had a [sleeping porch](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_porch) and a [cold pantry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantry#Cold_pantry). There’s a version of the Mediterranean-style houses in San Francisco that has a central patio about six feet across, with windows and a door into it from all around so they all get light from the open sky, which is handy when all the houses are built so close together that if you put in a regular window, all you’d see is the wall of your neighbor’s house. One friend of mine called his the felinary, as they exiled the cat to it when they didn’t want to put it out. Another friend of mine grew pot in hers. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/31 "2017-12-12T03:45:52Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Do people outside of CA still have a Mud Room? I’ve visited a few farmhouses in Ontario (Canada) that have mud rooms. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/32 "2017-12-12T04:01:48Z")
In some cases the functions the room provides is antiquated, not just the name: > [@](#): > > In the English-speaking world of the 18th and 19th century, having a parlour room was evidence of social status. It was proof that one had risen above those who lived in one or two rooms. As the parlour was the room in which the larger world encountered the private sphere of middle class life (the family’s face to the world) it was invariably the best room (it was often colloquially called that) in the home. The parlour frequently displayed a family’s best furnishings, works of art and other status symbols. > The parlour was used for receptions around formal family occasions such as weddings, births and funerals… In the 20th century, the widespread use of the telephone and (later) automobiles, and the increasing casualness of society led to the decline of formal reception rooms in domestic architecture in English-speaking countries. The secondary functions of the parlour for entertaining and display were taken up by various kinds of sitting rooms, such as the living room (chiefly in North American usage), or the drawing room (chiefly in British usage). > **[Parlour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parlor)** > > A parlour (or parlor) is a reception room or public space. In medieval Christian Europe, the "outer parlour" was the room where the monks or nuns conducted business with those outside the monastery and the "inner parlour" was used for necessary conversation between resident members. In the English-speaking world of the 18th and 19th century, having a parlour room was evidence of social status. > In the early 13th century, parlor originally referred to a room where monks could go to talk, derived... ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/33 "2017-12-12T04:04:10Z")
Re. the parlor, one event that took place there was the “lying in state” of a dead family member before the funeral. That’s the reason why “funeral parlors” have that name–the function was outsourced. A closet, and not the kind we have now. Going back to Shakespeare’s time, in _Hamlet_, Ophelia says “as I was sewing in my closet”. She means a private room. I know a community college that’s on a former military base. One building used to be the officers’ quarters and included a ballroom for events like dances for the officers. It’s now used as a meeting room but is still referred to as the Ballroom which can be confusing to newcomers. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/34 "2017-12-12T04:04:25Z")
The first house I grew up in had a verandah, and it’s still pretty common for houses in rural Australia to have one, as they’re perfect for shade in a desert location. They’re basically a [covered deck](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/56/78/de/5678de14503757c08c22de4637d6fac7.jpg) that runs along the length of at least one side of a house. A porch is smaller, a deck can be uncovered and stretch out into the yard. I think that’s the distinction. When I’m rich and have my dream home, I’m going to name each room something antiquated as one of my many nerdy affectations. Current list of potential ideas include: The Atrium. The Archive. The Eyrie. The Stables. The Great Hall. The Scullery. The Undercroft. ---
**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 12, 2017, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/35 "2017-12-12T12:08:18Z")
My goofy youngest sister referred to her tiny back yard as her veranda, and she would go out there “to verand.” I know this post doesn’t really add to the thread, but I felt compelled to share the insanity that has afflicted my family. 😃 Carry on! ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 12:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/36 "2017-12-12T12:15:48Z")
I recommend that we leave our coats in the vestibule, partake of the comestibles available to us in the larder, and retire to the study to consider the evening’s affairs. ---
**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 12, 2017, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/37 "2017-12-12T12:26:09Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > I’ve visited a few farmhouses in Ontario (Canada) that have mud rooms. Are outbuildings counted here? We have a tack room, but it’s attached to the barn. We also have a woodshed. ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/38 "2017-12-12T13:54:21Z")
> [@Monstera\_deliciosa](#): > > I don’t remember the Golden Girls using the word ‘veranda’ to refer to their patio. It was always the lanai. Indeed, and I’d thought its use was intended to sound southerny. Imagine my surprise, then, while watching _House Hunters_ to find people "ooh"ing over the lanai in the Floridian/Georgian homes they were looking at. But it wasn’t the kind of patio the Golden Girls had, so I finally looked up [lanai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanai_(architecture)) and found out it’s not at all what Blanche led me to believe, _or_ what those House Hunter twits were cooing over. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/39 "2017-12-12T14:26:33Z")
oohh–I just thought of another: a Florida room! I’ve never been in one, but I’ve heard folks talk about 'em. It’s the American version of the conservatory I mentioned upthread: An enclosed porch with large windows and glass roof (and mosquito screens!) But I think they only use the term in the eastern parts of the US. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191/40 "2017-12-12T16:02:47Z")
I would LOVE to live in a big old fashioned house with a sleeping porch (screened in, please). I would be up there, my own little hideaway, three seasons of the year. I used to drive past a big honkin’ old Queen Anne house with a turret, and always wondered what it would be like to live up there, in the turret. Someone told me it was just a little storeroom. But I pictured a round room, totally round, with a stained glass window. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antiquated-room-names/804191.md?page=3)