What the hell do Suck & Blow jello shots have to do with this thread?
Anyway, I agree with the OP; a house is what you buy, a home is what you make it. That is to say that Marcie and I bought a townhouse that has become our home.
What the hell do Suck & Blow jello shots have to do with this thread?
Anyway, I agree with the OP; a house is what you buy, a home is what you make it. That is to say that Marcie and I bought a townhouse that has become our home.
It all seems hair splitting to me, I could care, one way or the other honestly.
But just so you know, when I invite you to my place it’s not my house I’m welcoming you into, it’s my home.
I’m not just inviting you to come in out of the rain and take shelter under my roof. I’m inviting you into the warmth of my home. My house is only the structure that holds my home.
My home is filled with lovely ambiance and hospitality because of the warmth and lovingkindness of my family.
My house is just bricks and mortar.
I too thought this was going to be about “house” apparently being a dirty word in the real estate industry. Everything is advertised as a “home.” I know it’s supposed to evoke warm fuzzy feelings and make people want to buy, but it strikes me as phony and transparently manipulative and sometimes downright stupid. Especially egregrious is “townhome” – ick!
Newsflash: if no one actually lives in it, it’s not a home – it’s a house. And if someone does live in it and it’s for sale, I don’t want to buy someone else’s “home,” I want to buy his house and make it my home. It might seem nitpicky and unimportant, but it’s just one of those little things that annoy me.
OTOH, I have friends with apartments and condos who call them houses, as in “I’m working on my house today.” I don’t have a problem with that; “house” seems like a pretty generic and useful term for a dwelling.
I call it a house or a place. The one that really chaps my keester is when the decorating shows refer to rooms as spaces. Good god. I wanna slam their heads against a hastily constructed bookcase.
I’ve worked in real estate for over 20 years, and one thing I am adament about is the fact we sell “houses.” Nobody can sell a “home.” I do allow something like “make this your dream home.” But selling homes is a total impossibility.
Hmmm. When inviting friends over, I’m more likely to say place (e.g., “Want to stop over at my place tonight”) than either house or home.
I see “home” as always being appropriate. It can substitute for house, apartment, condo, townhouse, duplex, dwelling, flat, ranch, farm, or whatever. Using “house” when you live in an apartment is just plain wrong, though.
Best: “Residents have long commutes.”
My father-in-law says it’s a violin if it’s carried in a case, and a fiddle if it’s carried in a gunnysack. My friend the concertmaster says it’s a violin when he’s playing for the symphony and a fiddle when he’s playing Scottish folk tunes.
I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t agree with it. A house is a physical construct; a home is an emotional construct.
I agree that since home has an emotional basis that businesses should (but don’t) avoid it like the plague.
However, to say that it is inappropriate for a person to refer to the house they live in as a home is to have a basic misunderstanding of the meaning of the two words.
It is not new - Ricky said “Looooocy, I’m home”, long before HGTV was around. Better Homes and Gardens has been around over a century. Both of these were here long before corporatespeak.
How I use the two words will depend a great deal upon context, and upon my relationship to the listener. If I am driving by my residence with someone, I will say “That is my house”. If I need a handyman to do a repair, I might ask “Could you come to my house to fix my washer?” If a friend comes to visit, I might say “Welcome to my home”. I say “my home” here because it is my home, not my friend’s home. If I am at a friend’s home and their family member arrives, I’m likely to say “Welcome home”, even though it is not my home.
A home is where you live.
A house is what you live in.
*Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. * – Robert Frost
Alas, that definition has not applied to me for many, many years, unless I read “home” as “family.” I have family that would take me in were I homeless, but it would still be their home.
Currently, my “home, sweet home” is the rented second floor of a row house. In casual conversation, depending on whom I’m speaking with, I might use any of these terms with aplomb:
“Let’s go to my house.”
“Let’s go to my place.”
“Let’s go to my apartment.”
“Let’s go to the crib.”
I have no problem with the realtor phrase “homes for sale.”
My favorite reference to “home” has to be a Mercer/Arlen song I listened to a lot when I was a teenager.
There’s a voice in the lonesome wind
That keeps whispering: roam!
I’m going where a welcome mat is,
No matter where that is,
‘Cause any place I hang my hat is home.
Off topic to ForumBot: I called all soft drinks “coke” when I was a youngster in upstate New York. In Columbus, Ohio at age 16, I ordered an “orange coke” at a fast food joint and was asked: what do want, an orange pop or a coke?
I wish we had a good English equivalent of the French “chez moi.” I guess “my place” is as close as we can come.