# Stupid craigslist housing question **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 26, 2008, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617 "2008-05-26T03:45:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/1 "2008-05-26T03:45:41Z")
Most shared apartments ask that the potential roommate be a “student or professional”. Other than jobless, what the heck _doesn’t_ fall under one of those categories? ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/2 "2008-05-26T03:49:21Z")
A professional is someone with a college degree, so lots and lots of people fall between the two. ---
**Author:** ![taterbug3918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@taterbug3918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taterbug3918)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/3 "2008-05-26T03:56:23Z")
[QUOTE=Lama Pacos] Most shared apartments ask that the potential roommate be a “student or professional”. Other than jobless, what the heck _doesn’t_ fall under one of those categories? [/QUOTE] Maybe “professional” means they want the roommate to be more than just employed, but to have a _career._ Something that required higher education and pays well, a job that they will have for a while, or at least plan on staying with. I’m guessing people who are looking for “professional” roommates don’t want a part-time barista or a supermarket cashier. Sounds kind of snobbish, but it could be a way to weed out people who might not always be able to cover their share of the rent. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/4 "2008-05-26T03:57:49Z")
[QUOTE=Alice The Goon] A professional is someone with a college degree [/QUOTE] Says who? A professional is someone with a profession. If you’re looking for “students or professionals” it means you don’t want starving artists or trust-fund hipsters. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/5 "2008-05-26T04:02:48Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] Says who? A professional is someone with a profession. If you’re looking for “students or professionals” it means you don’t want starving artists or trust-fund hipsters. [/QUOTE] Where did you get your definition? And how do you define ‘profession’? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/6 "2008-05-26T04:12:07Z")
Might be using the definition of [profession](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/profession) with which I’m most familiar: “An occupation, such as law, medicine, or engineering, that requires considerable training and specialized study.” I have a good job in communications, but in my family of doctors and lawyers I am considered a non-professional. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/7 "2008-05-26T04:27:19Z")
[QUOTE=SpoilerVirgin] I have a good job in communications, but in my family of doctors and lawyers I am considered a non-professional. [/QUOTE] This concept is completely alien to me, and I have lawyers and doctors in my family as well. A “professional” is anybody who works a skilled job. Professional lawyer, professional nurse, professional architect, professional plumber, professional movie star, etc. OK, maybe the last one doesn’t really count as “skilled.” ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/8 "2008-05-26T04:28:30Z")
[QUOTE=friedo] Says who? A professional is someone with a profession. If you’re looking for “students or professionals” it means you don’t want starving artists or trust-fund hipsters. [/QUOTE] Sorry, but the definition of professional is: those employed in one of the learned professions, which, by definition require extensive schooling. It specifically means you have a degree. ETA: Just search for it. Ever since my teenager installed Linux my links don’t work. I want my Vista back. ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/9 "2008-05-26T04:46:36Z")
[QUOTE=Alice The Goon] Sorry, but the definition of professional is: those employed in one of the learned professions, which, by definition require extensive schooling. It specifically means you have a degree. ETA: Just search for it. Ever since my teenager installed Linux my links don’t work. I want my Vista back. [/QUOTE] I disagree. There are many professions that don’t require higher education. A plumber makes more than I do, and I doubt he went to school as long as I did. But, thankfully, he’s willing to do the job. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/10 "2008-05-26T05:04:21Z")
[QUOTE=Sleeps With Butterflies] I disagree. There are many professions that don’t require higher education. A plumber makes more than I do, and I doubt he went to school as long as I did. But, thankfully, he’s willing to do the job. [/QUOTE] Well, that may be your opinion, but a definition is not a matter of opinion, but fact. ---
**Author:** ![whatami](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/85f322/32.png) [@whatami](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whatami)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/11 "2008-05-26T05:15:01Z")
[QUOTE=Alice The Goon] Well, that may be your opinion, but a definition is not a matter of opinion, but fact. [/QUOTE] Right, so all those Craigslist people are looking for Doctors, Lawyers, or Engineers only… :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@Sleeps\_With\_Butterflies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sleeps_With_Butterflies)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/12 "2008-05-26T05:16:24Z")
[QUOTE=Alice The Goon] Well, that may be your opinion, but a definition is not a matter of opinion, but fact. [/QUOTE] Oh drop the attitude, a definition can vary from place to place. I’m glad you found one to match your earlier opinion. [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com): a person who belongs to one of the professions, **esp**. one of the learned professions; a person who is expert at his or her work; American Heritage Dictionary: Engaging in a given activity as a source of livelihood or as a career; A skilled practitioner; an expert. Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary: Of or pertaining to a profession, or calling; conforming to the rules or standards of a profession; following a profession; as, professional knowledge; professional conduct We could go back and forth with our “facts,” but I think you can see there are different “facts” based on the dictionary you use. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/13 "2008-05-26T05:17:34Z")
[QUOTE=whatami] Right, so all those Craigslist people are looking for Doctors, Lawyers, or Engineers only… :dubious: [/QUOTE] What? Dude, what I am saying is that the definition of professional is someone who has a degree. That is what is meant when someone refers to a “professional”. It always has been. What profession someone desires of a roommate found on Craigslist is beside the point. ---
**Author:** ![Alice\_The\_Goon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Alice\_The\_Goon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alice_The_Goon)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/14 "2008-05-26T05:19:02Z")
Yeah, I give up. Going to bed now. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/15 "2008-05-26T05:38:17Z")
I’ve always understood the term not only to refer to a job requiring a degree, but also some type of certification. Something test based, I supposed. Like a doctor, lawyer, engineer or architect. FWIW, the built-in dictionary in OS X agrees. > [@](#): > > 1 a paid occupation, esp. one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/16 "2008-05-26T05:42:15Z")
**Alice** ’s definition of professional is the traditional one (note that the definitions given by **Sleeps** are a bit tautological – a professional is one engaged in a profession; that begs the question as to what the professions are and **Alice** has identifed the traditional professions. A police officer, for example, is not a professional (no matter how well trained she is); instead, a police office is a blue collar worker, while doctors, lawyers, engineers are professionals.) And there’s certainly nothing wrong with not being a professional, as that term traditionally was used. In my family, in fact, there was (and is) a lot more cheering over my sister’s (non-professional) career choice than mine. But I suspect that craigslist posters are using “professional” as a euphemism for “gainfully employed in a career, not a McJob.” ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/17 "2008-05-26T13:19:32Z")
Just to chime in that my reading would be professional = white collar. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/18 "2008-05-26T13:51:55Z")
[QUOTE=Sleeps With Butterflies] I disagree. There are many professions that don’t require higher education. A plumber makes more than I do, and I doubt he went to school as long as I did. But, thankfully, he’s willing to do the job. [/QUOTE] A plumber would be considered a ‘skilled laboror’ or ‘tradesman’. He may be a master of his trade, but not a professional…in the strictest sense of the word ‘profession’. Not that everyone is using that definition. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/19 "2008-05-26T14:53:18Z")
Just to further muddy the waters, in some fields, an amateur does not get paid, but a professional does. ---
**Author:** ![Mahna\_Mahna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47c2d/32.png) [@Mahna\_Mahna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahna_Mahna)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2008, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617/20 "2008-05-26T15:07:46Z")
I agree the word “professional” has lots of different meanings, but in the context of a classified ad “professional” is almost always code for “please have a steady full-time job that provides you with legal income”. This would exclude anyone with a part-time minimum wage job, small-time dope dealing trustafarians or the typical actor-slash-busboy roommate (think Joey from friends). This is the same code that lets you know that “airy” or “light-filled” usually means “has a window” and “spacious” usually means “enough room for you and your stuff, but not at the same time” and “open concept” means “the only enclosed space, if you’re lucky, is the bathroom”. Oh, and there was the one time that “en suite bathroom” was a bedroom in the basement that had a door to the utility/furnace room, which happened to have a very scary looking shower stall in it (the house was owned by a self-declared “handyman” whose idea of acceptable lawn ornamentation was a half-disassembled dishwasher, so this was par for the course). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-craigslist-housing-question/450617.md?page=2)