# Is the term 'box room' used in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 4, 2010, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668 "2010-02-04T14:17:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![redtail23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3e96dc/32.png) [@redtail23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/redtail23)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/21 "2010-02-04T16:02:34Z")
> [@Umbriel2](#): > > Speaking in the first person I’d say it’s slightly uncommon in the abstract “I’m heading off” context you cite, but not seen as wrong or weird. “I’m leaving” or “I’m going” would be more common. That may be regional. I hear “I’m headed out” or “I’m heading off” fairly commonly. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/22 "2010-02-04T16:03:26Z")
Just to say that _headed_ in the sense the OP asks about is perfectly common in the UK and has been since at least the early 19th century according to OED. Not of Irish origin, it’s simply a development of earlier senses of the verb in English. Earliest cite for _box room_ in OED is 1927. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/23 "2010-02-04T16:03:52Z")
> [@](#): > > I think it may be more common in areas where many of the zip codes have a double zero. My hometown has three Eights in a row, but I never heard anyone recite it as “triple eight” I’ve also lived places with paired zeros in the zip code, and never heard it given as “double zero”. If anyone uses this method of saying a double number in the US, where is it done? I’m genuinely curious. ---
**Author:** ![Tayto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Tayto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tayto)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/24 "2010-02-04T16:07:56Z")
I should have said in my original post that box room here (Ireland) usually refers to a spare bedroom rather than a spare room in general (I’ll put that down to tiredness again if I may). It would usually have a single (twin?) bed and as several posters have rightly pointed out, a whole heap of other crap that goes in the ‘might be useful some day’ category. A mud room would be unusual here, although my sister, who lives in jolly-hockey-sticks Surrey in the UK, does have a ‘boot room’. Dead posh. Informative and entertaining replies, thank you. Tayto ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/25 "2010-02-04T16:18:24Z")
Heading is in very common usage. “I’m headed home” Even from a Texan: “I’m fixin’ to head out” (I am preparing to depart, good sir!) ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/26 "2010-02-04T16:31:00Z")
Moved Cafe Society --\> MPSIMS ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/27 "2010-02-04T17:37:39Z")
I use it but a) I have a box room (aka “the cats’ room,” since that’s where I keep their stuff) and b) I’m an anglophile and have run into often in my reading. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/28 "2010-02-04T18:10:57Z")
I’ve never heard the term “box room” used before. I’d just call it the spare bedroom. I’m from Pennsylvania, currently living in Arizona, with a few years spent in Denver. As for “headed,” headed out, headed East, etc., it’s pretty common and universally understood usage. There is even a semi-famous band from Illinois called Head East. ---
**Author:** ![thirdwarning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecccb3/32.png) [@thirdwarning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thirdwarning)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/29 "2010-02-04T18:24:46Z")
I’d think storage closet or maybe junk room, for your box room. Unless it’s big enough to use as a bedroom, it’s not really a spare room to my mind. Heading is fine. We use it all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Kingspades](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecae2f/32.png) [@Kingspades](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kingspades)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/30 "2010-02-04T21:06:41Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I’ve also lived places with paired zeros in the zip code, and never heard it given as “double zero”. If anyone uses this method of saying a double number in the US, where is it done? I’m genuinely curious. I’d actually not thought about ZIP codes, but most of the ones in metro Atlanta start out “300.” It’s reasonably common for people to recite theirs as “three double-oh \_\_\_ \_\_\_.” ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/31 "2010-02-04T22:51:39Z")
“Mud rooms” were common in rural Upstate New York, though not in cities and towns as a rule. I haven’t heard the term used in North Carolina except by New York/other Northern state expatriates. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/32 "2010-02-04T22:56:33Z")
Not common where I’m from. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2010, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/33 "2010-02-04T23:11:53Z")
**Tayto** , there better not be any references to the hot press in there either. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/34 "2010-02-05T01:07:21Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > … > I’ve also lived places with paired zeros in the zip code, and never heard it given as “double zero”. > If anyone uses this method of saying a double number in the US, where is it done? I’m genuinely curious. The zip code in the address to get tickets for _The Price is Right_ is 90036, and when the announcer says it aloud, it’s “nine double-oh three six.” ---
**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:** [February 5, 2010, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/35 "2010-02-05T03:47:11Z")
I’ve always thought it unfairly one-sided that US publications make no effort to adapt their vernacular for overseas markets, but almost all “foreign” publications have to change terms and phrases to dumb it down for the US folks, to the point where they come to expect everything to be translated for them without any effort on their part. I think it’s both rude to assume that Americans can’t learn new things about other countries on their own bat (in fact, it’s better if it encourages them to do so), and also far too much effort by publishers to make such changes when there’s so little gain. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/36 "2010-02-05T04:29:58Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > … > > I’ve also lived places with paired zeros in the zip code, and never heard it given as “double zero”. > > If anyone uses this method of saying a double number in the US, where is it done? I’m genuinely curious. Los Angeles, yes. The zip codes around downtown Los Angeles are 900xx, comonly spoken - in my experience - as 'nine double-oh one two" or similar. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/37 "2010-02-05T04:33:36Z")
> [@Tayto](#): > > I should have said in my original post that box room here (Ireland) usually refers to a spare bedroom That’s a “guest bedroom” over here. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/38 "2010-02-05T04:46:21Z")
Back to the matter of “cupboard.” Yes, it’s used, but I think “cabinet” is probably more common. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/39 "2010-02-05T05:04:27Z")
> [@Green\_Bean](#): > > Back to the matter of “cupboard.” Yes, it’s used, but I think “cabinet” is probably more common. I say “cupboard” all the time. I hardly ever use “cabinet.” Again, I’m from the U.S. Pennsylvania-born. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668/40 "2010-02-05T05:41:01Z")
I would also use “cabinets” to refer to the overall storage furnishings in the kitchen, including both cupboards and drawers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-box-room-used-in-the-us/527668.md?page=3)