# What does "Double-wide" connote? (Non-American asking) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 17, 2022, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705 "2022-12-17T16:49:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/64 "2022-12-18T13:26:30Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > Your representation is offensive, > [@Ulfreida](#): > > Rick\_Kitchen, I wasn’t describing their reality, which is clearly, from this thread, quite variable, but the connotation in casual speech. Same. My representation was in response to the OP’s query about the connotation of “double wide”. I wasn’t denigrating people who live in one (as noted, my mom once did for a time, and it was perfectly fine, if not very well insulated), although I realize that the term itself is insulting. If you live in a nice trailer, but didn’t realize that there is a common notion that they are a step down from a typical single family home, well then ignorance fought, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/65 "2022-12-18T13:52:33Z")
> [@k9bfriender](#): > > Did they own the land, or did they rent? If they owned the land, then they have nothing to do with this conversation, and not only is your anecdote a cherry picked one, it’s also irrelevant. Obviously didn’t own the land, as I’ve obviously mentioned twice that I grew up part of my land in a trailer park, so your critique is irrelevant and dismissed. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > You also seem to be saying that they didn’t have jobs? Is that right? _Everything_ came from that investment? I doubt it. Here’s how investment works: you borrow some money. You buy an asset. The asset appreciates. You sell it at a profit and re-invest. Later, rinse, repeat. Wages don’t enter that equation. They’re part of the “I have to eat while I’m investing” equation. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > Is this the home of a poor person? Please pick up a dictionary and look up the definition of “generally”, which is the word I used. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > This is just your classism, thinking that only poor people live in mobile homes. That’s your ignorance loud and clear. > > Do you actually know anyone who lives in a mobile home? I take it you don’t. You’re just making assumptions based on your preconceived notions. As I stated multiple times in this thread, I grew up part of my life in a mobile home. I’ve known many friends and family who grew up in mobile homes. I categorize them as being in a lower economic strata. I realize people often use this as shorthand for “bad and stupid” but that’s not my meaning. Just people who had very little money (factually true), and who are looked down upon for it (also factually true). And this situation applies frequently enough to generalize from. (Again, please attempt to grasp the difference between generalization and absolute statements). > [@k9bfriender](#): > > OTOH, someone who buys an expensive item that has to sit on land they rent _has_ made a bad financial decision. That’s all I said, Let’s revisit: > [@k9bfriender](#): > > The thing about people living in trailer parks isn’t that they are poor, often they make pretty reasonable money, it’s that they make bad economic decisions. If you’re abandoning your silly and unkind categorical statement that people living in trailer parks make bad economic decisions, and retreating to the safer statement “buying a double wide often is an uncertain capital investment”, then I accept your walk-back. For the record, people live in trailer parks for all sorts of reasons. Yes, some make bad decisions, like everyone from every economic stratum, but folks in the lower stratum have less to fall back on. Some are just starting out in life, with few privileges, or experienced a divorce or some other life reversal, or are elderly on a fixed income, or have a disability, or they just made a reasonable calculation that they’re satisfied with a certain level of attainment. It’s just pure snobbishness to state that it’s always due to bad economic decisions. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/66 "2022-12-18T14:22:33Z")
It’s just a pejorative meaning poor, uneducated white people aligned with the political right, the same way “the projects” is a pejorative for poor, uneducated black people aligned to the political left. Why “double-wide” instead of just “trailer”? That’s just an old creative writing trick like saying a private detective “smokes Lucky Strikes” instead of “smokes cigarettes”. It’s not like the people using “double-wide” as a pejorative care what makes it different from any other trailer. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/67 "2022-12-18T14:35:34Z")
Moderating: I thought this thread had cooled off, but i see i was wrong. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > OTOH, someone who buys an expensive item that has to sit on land they rent _has_ made a bad financial decision. That’s all I said, everything else you whinged about came from your _own_ biased assumptions that I’m talking about poor people. Don’t accuse people of “bias” in a pejorative way in MPSIMS. Especially when you are the one making absolute statements. And especially when it’s pretty common in America to use slurs like “trailer trash”, or otherwise use “lives in a mobile home” as code for “poor”. If you are saying something different, that’s fine, but don’t be surprised if you are misunderstood. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > Do you actually know anyone who lives in a mobile home? I take it you don’t. You’re just making assumptions based on your preconceived notions. And this is a very weird statement, seeing as you’ve just quoted the poster saying they grew up in one. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/68 "2022-12-18T14:49:48Z")
I’m just dropping in to say that despite all the heated back and forth, I’ve learnt a lot from reading this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/69 "2022-12-18T16:32:35Z")
> [@Mighty\_Mouse](#): > > I’m just dropping in to say that despite all the heated back and forth, I’ve learnt a lot from reading this thread. Me too, well beyond the scope of my original question. I had no idea that it was going to be quite the explosive issue that it turned out to be. Thanks to everyone who has helped fight my ignorance in this thread. And sincere apologies to anyone who was upset or offended by it - I was kinda taken by surprise there. @VOW and @LSLGuy , particularly - apologies for any offence I may have caused. j ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/70 "2022-12-18T16:35:07Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > People with double-wides don’t tend to be packed into trailer parks but have them as individual home on their own plots of land. And can run up to $200,000 or more after financing. And have vastly more living space than a city apartment. So, usually what the smear means is that the labeler is a snob and a bigot. There’s a difference between a “double wide” and a “manufactured home”. A " double wide" is still a mobile home - crappy quality, sits in a mobile home park on a temporary above ground foundation; theoretically could be moved to another site. A “manufactured home” has similar construction to a standard built house, but was built on a big assed factory floor in two (or more) pieces, then flat-bedded to the final destination (a single home lot) and attached to a standard below ground foundation. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/71 "2022-12-18T16:49:16Z")
When i visited Denmark in the 70s, i learned that most new home construction was modular. They bought walls from a factory, and had them shipped to the site and assembled on the foundation. The walls came with electrical outlets and plumbing and maybe other stuff already built-in. They told me it took two days to make the foundation, and usually only an additional day to assemble the rest of the house from huge pieces trucked to the site. Those homes were very nice. And because the walls came in a variety of lengths with doors and windows in a wide variety of locations, each house was different. As far as I could tell, there was no bias there for “built on site” construction. So i wondered why we don’t do that in America. And i learned that it’s because our building codes are local, often varying town-by-town, so it wasn’t practical to build like that in the US market. The exception was mobile homes, and i think there was basically a loophole for them. I think it’s interesting that the factory-built home market has been drifting upscale. I still think that the Danish modular homes were nicer, and certainly more flexible as to design. And i bet the US factory-built home market is still hobbled by inconsistent building codes. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/72 "2022-12-18T17:53:23Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > And i bet the US factory-built home market is still hobbled by inconsistent building codes. Possibly. For some time there has been an increase in the adoption of Uniform Codes drafted by building professions organizations for regular construction, but there is always local autonomy at work – and it would be inefficient to have the homes subject to a large number of sub-customizations before leaving the factory. Also there is the basic matter of institutional inertia: through hundreds of years, in the USA housing stock was simply always site-built. Even the stereotypical post-WW2 suburban “houses made of ticky-tacky that all look the same” were not prefabricated but _pre-designed_, you’d get all the _individual components_ of ticky-tacky shipped to the site and kit-build it there. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/73 "2022-12-18T18:07:16Z")
By _[Sears](https://www.npr.org/2018/10/20/657770791/sears-is-fading-but-memories-of-its-mail-order-homes-endure)_! ---
**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:** [December 18, 2022, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/74 "2022-12-18T18:13:43Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > it would be inefficient to have the homes subject to a large number of sub-customizations before leaving the factory. It would? While not as flexible as stick-built I could see a factory offering a wall in four-foot increments within maximum and minimum limits, either blank or openings, door, doorway, or window. Someone could go on the website and piece together what they want like Lego bricks be it a 1-br, 1-ba cottage or a 5-br, 3-1/2-ba McMansion. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/75 "2022-12-18T18:33:07Z")
Pre-fab high-end homes are kind of having a moment–[https://turkeldesign.com/](https://turkeldesign.com/), [Stillwater](https://www.stillwaterdwellings.com/?utm_source=Bonneville&utm_medium=SEM&utm_campaign=SEM%26Display22-23&utm_id=StillWater&utm_term=22-23&gclid=CjwKCAiAkfucBhBBEiwAFjbkr3xDOPLNoIxcunGIBIutdrs227VLAwrl4YD5N04pxMVPRVH25VeNOBoCrRwQAvD_BwE) . The quality has gone way up. You don’t save any money over a site-built home, but you potentially save a bunch of time. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/76 "2022-12-18T18:38:18Z")
You could probably do that for some types of design choices - but it would be a little more difficult in terms of building codes. For example, I think most places allow PEX for drinking water- but some local codes don’t. Who is going to be responsible for knowing the local code where the house will be situated? ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/77 "2022-12-18T18:55:40Z")
Modular or pre fab homes are not the same as manufactured/ mobile homes. Modular homes are much like stick built homes in that they must conform to local building codes. Mobile homes are only HUD approved. From the @Spice_Weasel link _“The FHFA’s important new MH index **suggests that manufactured homes that include the land** may actually appreciate at rates similar to site-built properties.“_ I think this is true. Like @VOW property, it’s on private land, the home has been upgraded and they have the AA. Easily could increase in value. In a private park it probably depends on the park if the units appreciate at all. My rural township does not allow mobile homes in residential areas. Modular’s are fine. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/78 "2022-12-18T19:13:31Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > No, it is more of a sneering judgement that someone is morally inferior because they are poor. “Trailer-trash” is a similar slur. As somebody who grew up as trailer trash, I call bullshit. It has nothing to do with being poor; it’s entirely possible to be poor and NOT be trailer trash, or live with the “trailer-park mentality”. ETA: @Treppenwitz : Here’s a look at the culture being gently mocked (caution: soul-destroying country/western music video 😛) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/iICDCj-qOEU/maxresdefault.jpg "Sammy Kershaw - Queen Of My Double Wide Trailer (Official Video)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iICDCj-qOEU) ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/79 "2022-12-18T19:18:48Z")
Just quickly reffing back to the OP - I was asking about words. Many of the replies address just that - the way in which the words are used - and nothing more. j ETA - @Kron - just saw your update. As it happens I am an English…country music fan. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/80 "2022-12-18T19:28:12Z")
> [@chela](#): > > _“The FHFA’s important new MH index **suggests that manufactured homes that include the land** may actually appreciate at rates similar to site-built properties.“_ > > I think this is true. Like @VOW property, it’s on private land, the home has been upgraded and they have the AA. Easily could increase in value. I don’t think that actually tells you whether the mobile/manufactured home _itself_ increased in value. The property including the home may have gone up in value - but that could very possibly be due to the land increasing in value and not the home itself. When they are bought and sold as a package deal , it’s hard to tell whether the increase in value is because the home itself is worth more or the land is worth more. In some situations, vacant land may be worth as much or more than land with a house already on it. The last apartment my son lived in was a 13 unit building that was a on a site that previously had a single family house. That house did not increase the value of the lot because it had to be demolished before the new building could go up. ---
**Author:** ![Sylvanz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Sylvanz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sylvanz)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/81 "2022-12-18T19:41:04Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > but that it’s not a commonplace expression - correct? I think it’s fairly common place. There is a song: She’s the queen of my double wide trailer with the polyester curtains and the redwood deck/ sometimes she runs and I have to trai 'er/ damn her black heart and her purty red neck. I live in a double wide in a _ **Mobile Home Park** _ ( my preferene) there are a lot of trashy people here, but there are some nice people too. I tend to think some/ a lot depends on the area, the park management, etc. We. got rather arbitrarily kicked out of our huge rental house a few years back. We’re older and we didn’t want to take on a 30 year mortgage. We don’t have the best credit or a lot of money. We found this place and we like it. It’s a good thing too 'cause my husband could no longer have lived in the past rental because of his Parkinson’s. We’re slowly doing some improvements and handicap stuff. I can do whatever I want to this house, and that is good. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2022, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/82 "2022-12-18T19:42:19Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Who is going to be responsible for knowing the local code where the house will be situated? No argument, there. It would be like an auto manufacturer trying to cover 30 or 50 different states’ requirements when they’re all different. They grumble enough at California’s requirements vs. the rest of the US. ---
**Author:** ![JaneDoe42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janedoe42/32/14104_2.png) [@JaneDoe42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JaneDoe42)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2022, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705/83 "2022-12-18T19:49:23Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > In the 10 years or so since the construction of the trailer and that point, state regulations had been updated to require triple-paned windows for all manufactured housing. It’s not really surprising that your neighbor’s home wasn’t crushed, the building codes for newer manufactured homes are pretty strict. I brought up the windows because folks were saying how double-wides are poorly insulated. The newer ones are not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-double-wide-connote-non-american-asking/976705.md?page=5)