In a conversation at work this afternoon I used the term “dogtrot house.” They just looked at me funny. I asked several other people if they knew what it meant. Apparently, no one in New Mexico has ever heard of a dogtrot house. I just assumed that anyone who spoke English would know what a dogtrot house is. I was wrong. Has anyone on this message board ever heard of a dogtrot house? Has anyone ever had a similar experience where you used a phrase you thought everyone would easily understand but they didn’t have a clue?
Dogtrot house is foreign to me.
ETA: After some research, I realize I’ve seen houses like these during plantation tours, they just weren’t called “dogtrot.” They weren’t called anything, come to think of it.
Much obliged.
I am a Realtor[sup]TM[/sup] and I never heard of it. But now, thanks to this post, I know what a dog trot house is.
Never saw one around here.
Never heard of it, even though I apparently live in prime dogtrot country.
^^ There’re no houses in Wisconsin, only igloos. 
First I heard of it.
On looking it up, it looks like a neat hot-weather adaptation. Keep the kitchen away from the bedrooms, and get better air flow into all of the rooms. – but then, it gets pretty warm in New Mexico; so I guess it’s not just because I live up North that I don’t know the term.
Nah, the skiers prefer yurts Up Nort.
The DtH in Texas I got to visit was rather livable for a 95[sup]o[/sup] day; the breeze blew most of the humidity away. Now, Mom and Dad slept downstairs and the kids had–what we would call–the attic for sleeping, so I can’t attest to the comfortableness of second-story-dogtrot-house napping.
I’ve lived in the Midwest all my life, and I’d never heard the term before. Based on what other posters have shared, I’ve never seen this style of house (under any name) in the Midwest, either.
I’ve never heard the term, and I’ve never seen a house built like that. I’ve lived in Illinois, Oregon and California and traveled a bit but haven’t spent much time in the South.
First I’ve ever heard the term.
There do exist a few of them around here. Very, very few. Just about everything that old has been leveled. Everybody wants new, of course.
I’m also ignorant.
My husband sometimes refers to a house style he calls “little house behind a big house.” He never defines it precisely, he says “you know it when you see it.” He loves to wind me up with crap like that.
I’d almost think he made it up, but I’ve heard his brothers talk about it, too.
But then his whole family is nucking futs.
~VOW
Never heard of the term before, rarely seen one. I’ve lived mostly in the Northeast where they are extremely rare.
I knew a dogtrot house is a very old Southern style. I couldn’t quite picture the layout in my mind. Google filled in the gaps.
There’s also a Shotgun house. Usually three or four rooms in one long row. You walk in the front door and pass through each room until you reach the back door. They were small houses, the rooms might have been 10x12ft.
Sometimes two shotgun houses are joined to make a duplex.
Images in this article.
Another phrase I thought everyone knows is as the crow flies. I used that at work and a young coworker had no idea what I meant.
I knew immediately what you meant, but I always heard dog-run house. They were very common in 19th and early 20th century Texas, so I’m surprised that New Mexicans never hear it before. Seems like they would have been used at least occasionally east of the mountains.
Never heard of t, never seen it.
I have met people that don’t know what a davenport is.
I’ve never heard of one, either.
Yes. a dog-run house. If you ever travel through Huntsville, Tx, drop by Sam Houston’s house. They have it restored and refer to it as a dog-run type of house. Not nearly as big as you would expect for the President of Texas (well, ex-president, when he built it), but definitely well-built (it stands today, a wooden house built over 170 years ago). Having spent many summers in south-east Texas, not a bad design if one has to live without air conditioning, electric lights, and indoor pluming.
I’ve never heard the term. On asking around, one west Florida native was familiar with it.