# Is the term "master bedroom" offensive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 14, 2021, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001 "2021-04-14T20:50:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/101 "2021-04-15T16:10:13Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > What the heck is wrong with the term salary cap league? Nothing is wrong with the term. The problem is that the industry wants to call what was previously referred to as “auction leagues” as “salary cap leagues” - but “salary cap leagues” were already a thing, and are much different than auction leagues. Salary cap leagues are far less common these days, outside of DFS (Daily Fantasy Sports). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/102 "2021-04-15T16:11:36Z")
Note that the real estate board in Toronto just decided to make this change but the Houston Board of Realtors [made the same decision last summer](https://www.click2houston.com/news/local/2020/06/25/har-no-longer-using-master-to-describe-bedrooms-and-bathrooms-on-its-property-listing-database/), and I don’t think of Houston, Texas as a hotbed of political correctness. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/103 "2021-04-15T16:14:20Z")
> [@Munch](#): > > Nothing is wrong with the term. The problem is that the industry wants to call what was previously referred to as “auction leagues” as “salary cap leagues” - but “salary cap leagues” were already a thing, and are much different than auction leagues. I misread your post. Sorry about that. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/104 "2021-04-15T17:01:47Z")
I really think we need to stop seeing EVERYTHING through the lens of slavery. The word master was in common usage for head of household pretty much everywhere they spoke English from before slavery was a big thing. Mistress meant the woman of the house. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/105 "2021-04-15T17:03:16Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > pretty much everywhere they spoke English from before slavery was a big thing Slavery has been a big thing since before anyone spoke English. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/106 "2021-04-15T17:04:39Z")
Yes, you are right of course. But it wasn’t a big thing in England when the word master came to be used. Unless you consider feudalism slavery. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/107 "2021-04-15T17:24:26Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Unless you consider feudalism slavery. Well… Actually, leaving _that_ aside, even “normal” [slavery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrall) was very much a “big thing” in England when the word master (or its immediate [predecessors](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/m%C3%A6gester#Old_English)) was first used. In the Domesday census, 10% of the population were slaves. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/108 "2021-04-15T18:02:06Z")
Thralls, which are serfs, which is not what most Americans think when they think of slavery. We think “chattel slavery.” (I agree, and know, and think that we do not spend enough time talking about the total history of slavery - from Egypt and Rome (and prehistory before that) to indentured servants and Russian serfs through the Holocaust to Chinese prison labor in 2021 - and countless others - its a huge topic encompassing all of human history and every corner of the world). ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/109 "2021-04-15T18:04:48Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > I’m calling it the mistress bedroom from now on. Try and stop me. So it’s where you stash your, uh, auxillary wife? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/110 "2021-04-15T18:28:19Z")
> [@Dangerosa](#): > > Thralls, which are serfs Thralls are not serfs, despite what my own cite says. The crucial difference being that thralls could, and were, sold independent of any land. I don’t see a difference between that and US chattel slavery. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/111 "2021-04-15T18:32:21Z")
Change “master suite” to “ big ass bedroom with attached bathroom” ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/112 "2021-04-15T18:44:39Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Well, yeah, there were. Remember, the US isn’t the only country on this planet. Organized legal chattel slavery ended well over a hundred years ago. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/113 "2021-04-15T18:49:57Z")
What about my MasterCard? Uh-oh. PrimaryCard? Oh really? And those classic rock and jazz albums getting digitally… Rebased? What if the house has a dumbwaiter. That’s “muteserver” now, buddy! And I’m pretty sure I know the answer, but what about terms like “male” and “female” for plug couplings? I assume Certain People would complain about that just out of prurience, much less concern for sexism (after all there is no indication that a “male” plug is in any way superior to a “female” plug other than the fact that it has the sticking-out bit that joins with a snap into the sticking-in end of the other cable), but cannot recall an alternative designation. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/114 "2021-04-15T20:13:46Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > So it’s where you stash your, uh, auxillary wife? Just like with master bedroom, you will have to use your own imagination. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/115 "2021-04-15T20:31:48Z")
Are we just going to have these weekly versions of the same hacky “can I still say X hur hur hur hur?” posts now? ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/116 "2021-04-15T22:11:01Z")
I don’t see it as an issue. But, playing along. . .the US Navy’s going to have a hell of a time updating their [USNO Master Clock](https://www.usno.navy.mil/USNO/time/display-clocks/simpletime). I’ve also overnighted at a friend’s place in their “Bonus Room” (bedroom framed, rocked, painted, and furnished over a framed garage.) It’s offensive to me, because I want a garage, but don’t have that bonus. Tripler I should have a “bonus primary mistress bedroom!” ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/117 "2021-04-15T22:34:55Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > Are we just going to have these weekly versions of the same hacky “can I still say X hur hur hur hur?” posts now? Yes. It seems to be one of the purposes of the thread, right? To try to post the silliest or most “ridiculous” examples. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/118 "2021-04-15T23:49:06Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Having said that, “primary bedroom?” Ugh, I’d have gone with “main”, which already has some currency. I’ve also heard “principle bedroom.” Is that better??? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2021, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/119 "2021-04-15T23:50:43Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > “Master Cylinder” - " In automotive engineering, the _master cylinder_ is a control device that converts force (commonly from a driver’s foot) into hydraulic pressure. No, Master Cylinder is a character on the Felix the Cat cartoon show. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2021, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001/120 "2021-04-16T00:02:31Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > I’ve also heard “principle bedroom.” Is that better??? Principal bedroom might be even better. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-master-bedroom-offensive/940001.md?page=7)