# Landlord. Is this a pompous name? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 18, 2023, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218 "2023-07-18T15:42:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/1 "2023-07-18T15:42:50Z")
Of course the past informs our present. But doesn’t the word “landlord” seems a bit pretentious these days? It is true rents can sometimes be high, but so are food and utility prices. Despite these prices and attitudes, you would probably not shop for groceries at His Royal Highness Provisions instead of the Piggly Wiggly, or prefer to get electricity from Your Grace Scuzzyberg Electric Power, Protector of the Seven Municipal Areas and Grand Khal of the Great Grass Sea and Trailer Parkade. I mean, landlords seems to spend very little time a-leaping. They sometimes get testy if you call them m’lord. _M’lord! I need you to unclog m’toilet!_. Maybe not all of them build their offices in the cheapest possible location or spend all their time sitting on piles of treasure and doubloons while dreaming of yet more. But it still seems like an archaic job description… ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/2 "2023-07-18T15:46:55Z")
“Landlords are not lords of the land, they are scum of the earth.” Esther Rand, founder of NYC’s East Side Tenants Council. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2023, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/3 "2023-07-18T16:06:12Z")
And then there’s the slumlord. Pompous? ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/4 "2023-07-18T16:07:37Z")
You ever heard a landlord use that word? Even slumlords think they are “ghetto fabulous”. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2023, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/5 "2023-07-18T16:11:06Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > You ever heard a landlord use that word? Come to think of it…no. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/6 "2023-07-18T16:30:59Z")
The word always reminds me of _Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood_, with Eddie Murphy reading the poem _Images_ as Tyrone Green. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/7 "2023-07-18T16:41:43Z")
I don’t know about pompous, but its a very old word, possibly predating the concept of lords as people wrapped in ermine and wearing coronets. It dates from the feudal period where society was conceived of as a set of relationships which didn’t depend, as they do today, on the provision of capital in return for dividends or interest or the provision of labour in return for a wage, but on occupation of land in return for an obligation to provide services. The “tenant” held the land (from the Latin _tenere_, to hold); in return he provided service to the landlord. The service might be agricultural labour, or it might be military service, or it might be a vaguely defined but potentially onerous duty of allegiance. Nowadays it’s genrally a rent defined as a cash amount, and the relationship is seen as basically contractual. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/8 "2023-07-18T17:05:58Z")
Well said. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/9 "2023-07-18T17:47:37Z")
My Daddy had rental property. He referred to himself as that mean sum’bitch that you owe… Or Rental Manager. According to his mood that day. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/10 "2023-07-18T18:48:59Z")
Is there a good alternative? What other word means “the person who owns the house or apartment you’re renting?” Is it pompous to name your boy “Earl” or “Roy”? or your dog “Duke” or “Rex”? ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/11 "2023-07-18T18:56:53Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > What other word means “the person who owns the house or apartment you’re renting?” “Lessor” would work, would it not? Not that I care; I don’t find the term “landlord” offensive or classist. “Landlady” sounds a bit sexist to me, but that’s easily fixed by referring to people as landlords regardless of gender, just as the “actor/actress” distinction has generally been dropped in favor of calling everyone an actor. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/12 "2023-07-18T19:18:55Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Piggly Wiggly For years I thought this was either fake or something out of Richard Scarry. I was very surprised to find it was real. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/13 "2023-07-18T19:28:14Z")
> [@FinsToTheLeft](#): > > I was very surprised to find it was real. Shop the Pig! Don’t off him!! ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/14 "2023-07-18T19:32:37Z")
In Britain, a landlord can also be the proprietor of a pub, bar, inn or hotel. For the original meaning, perhaps we could think of a fun acronym that would get widely adopted. OTWIPR (pronounced "ott-wiper) – Owner To Whom I Pay Rent Or for the building manager, OATWIPR – Owner’s Agent To Whom I Pay Rent More later, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/15 "2023-07-18T19:43:11Z")
> [@FinsToTheLeft](#): > > > [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > > > Piggly Wiggly > > For years I thought this was either fake or something out of Richard Scarry. I was very surprised to find it was real. If nothing else, the name was useful so Bill Maher could point out, to those who believed Bill Gates and the evil gubbermint were inserting tracking chips in COVID vaccines, that “no one is interested in tracking your fat ass to the Piggly Wiggly”. As for “landlord”, the English language abounds with words whose etymology is long forgotten except to linguists, or sometimes lost entirely. I doubt that very many people see “landlord” as a conjunction of two words, but just as a common everyday word with a commonly understood meaning. The landlord may not be a titled lord, but neither is the thing that he’s leasing usually agricultural land, either; it’s usually an apartment in which no agriculture occurs beyond maybe a philodendron or a well-tended cannabis plant. It’s just a word. > [@CairoCarol](#): > > “Lessor” would work, would it not? No, because the converse would have to be “lessee”, which is what I always say when I’m trying to figure something out. 😉 Actually, I believe those two terms are what usually appear in legal documents, “landlord” being more of an informal term. ---
**Author:** ![Cardigan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cardigan/32/187_2.png) [@Cardigan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cardigan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/16 "2023-07-18T19:53:32Z")
Back in the day I had a really cool landlord. He recently graduated from the same college we were attending. His parents left him the house near campus, and he was very active and responsive with repairs, etc. He even hung out and partied with us on at least one occasion (a Superbowl I recall). He would frequently ring the front doorbell and announce his presence with “It is I, your Land Lord. I have come at the behest of my vassals and subjects. State your petition.” ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2023, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/17 "2023-07-18T20:06:42Z")
I was a student for many, many years. I have had some genuinely cool and amusing landlords, some very eccentric ones, a couple dishonest ones and quite a few who were very thrifty, though this describes many Canadians. None wore perfumed wigs or frilly garments to my knowledge. I am not convinced the term needs replacing and just wanted to rant. But it does sound pretty dated to mine ears. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/18 "2023-07-19T12:52:18Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > the English language abounds with words whose etymology is long forgotten How about “husband”?. It means “owner”, or “master”.\* Pretty obvious why, innit? But nobody seems to complain. Even though they now complain bitterly if a husband buys a house with a [master](https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/why-realtors-no-longer-use-the-term-master-bedroom-1.5297916) bedroom. – \*As in “animal husbandry” or the phrase “to husband our resources”. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2023, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/19 "2023-07-19T23:56:50Z")
As Tom Lehrer put it so memorably: > He majored in animal husbandry. … Until they caught him at it one day. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2023, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218/20 "2023-07-20T00:19:05Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Is there a good alternative? Landmagicalcreature. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/landlord-is-this-a-pompous-name/987218.md?page=2)