Front Room or Living Room?

[Grumbacher_Red]

@Senegoid

Back in the late 1980’s / early 1990’s there was a wave of politically correct hysteria that swept over the Real Estate industry, particularly affecting the wording of advertising. The phrase “family room” became forbidden, because using that phrase in advertising seemed to imply that the home was being marketed to a family — hence, discriminatory against single people in violation of anti-discriminatory laws about marital status.

You couldn’t advertise a house as being “near schools” because that seemed to be “steering” childless people away in favor of families. You couldn’t mention “quiet neighborhood” because that was seen as code-speak for “families with children need not apply”. You couldn’t mention “majestic ocean views” because that discriminated against the blind. Any mention of nearby churches or synagogues was right out.

The Real Estate industry published lists of suspect words or phrases for advertisers to avoid. Self-appointed Protectors of the Public Good made a cottage industry of scouring Real Estate classified ads for questionable language and filing lawsuits over infractions.

And none dared call it a “family room”.

So I guess I “Living Room” is discriminatory against zombies. And goodness knows, we can’t have that!

[Senegoid]

@Grumbacher_Red

So I guess I “Living Room” is discriminatory against zombies. And goodness knows, we can’t have that!

Fortunately, that whole ball of nonsense largely blew over by around 1995 or so. In these modern all-inclusive days, zombies are increasingly well-integrated into our society, in large part due to the commendable efforts of the many LGBTQZ organizations!

[Rebo]

We have a living room, AND a front room! Our front room actually was a formal dining room, but it’s the office/guest futon room now.

[DrCube]

I live and grew up in the Midwest, but I don’t claim any particular regional knowledge of this issue. For us and anyone whose home I visited (which wasn’t that many now that I think of it), the main room was the Living Room. It had a couch and a TV. Always. Sometimes a recliner, sometimes a fireplace, but always a couch and TV.

When we moved to a house with two “main rooms” we were stumped with what to do with (and call) the other. What we did was put the couch and TV in the one further back and call it the Living Room. It was what we ate in, watched movies and played video games in. So to me “Living Room” means “casual”. That’s where the actual living happened.

The one in front by the door we called the Family Room. It was where the stereo was, it had a couch of its own, and bookcases. This was where the Christmas tree went, and where people hung out at family gatherings and parties. The big thing was that it didn’t have a TV, so it was more about spending time with family. Hence the name. I spent a lot of time in there reading away from the noise of the TV, until I became a teenager and spent all of my free time in my bedroom.