# When is a 'roommate' not a 'roommate' ? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 9, 2005, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267 "2005-08-09T13:28:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/21 "2005-08-10T07:34:09Z")
I think **bookkeeper** may have it - a university can award degrees, a college can’t. As for dormitory, **Spectre of Pithecanthropus** is not out of date. A ‘dorm’ is indeed a single room with multiple beds, I’d guess more than four are needed in order to qualify. They are found in youth hostels still and some boarding schools - although I believe most of the later have been converted from one long open room into cubicles so that there is more privacy despite the communal aspect. In ‘public’ schools (yes these are the ‘private’ non state run schools!) a building or part of containing sleeping quarters, possibly a common room and maybe a ‘prep’ room (for doing homework) is usually a ‘house’. In universities these same buildings are known as ‘Halls Of Residence’ or just ‘halls’, I spent my first year ‘in halls’ & shared a room but I think it has pretty much been phased out now. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/22 "2005-08-10T12:02:23Z")
When I went to college (American usage! It’s official name included the term “university,” not “college”), the administration was intent for some reason on eliminating usage of “dormitory.” They favored “residence hall.” I don’t know whether that’s still the case. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/23 "2005-08-10T12:51:37Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > Hello Again writes: > > \> “Graduate” work includes Masters and PhD’s – anything after a Bachelor’s > \> degree. > > There are probably different opinions on this, but I wouldn’t say that a student at a law school or a medical school or a seminary is a grad student. I would call them someone in law school or a medical student or a student at a seminary. So, it seems to me, not all students beyond a bachelor’s degree would be called grad students. I think it depends on how specific you want to get. As you mention, “med student” is used a lot, but there are more generic situations where such students get lumped in with other graduate students and there isn’t too much confusion. I’m trying to think of an example – I know of a daycare that offers special rates to “grad students” and it’s clear that it includes people working toward MAs, PhDs, MBAs, MDs, JDs, etc. At some universities, there are dedicated dorms available to just law students, or just med students, but depending how much housing is available/needed, other schools lump them all in together in a “graduate student residence.” Or they can get fancy and say “graduate and professional student housing.” ---
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/24 "2005-08-10T17:54:18Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > When I went to college (American usage! It’s official name included the term “university,” not “college”), the administration was intent for some reason on eliminating usage of “dormitory.” They favored “residence hall.” I don’t know whether that’s still the case. Yeah, mine did the same. It’s a euphemism; I guess it sounds nicer to them. Like how they referred to what the cafeteria served as “food”. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/25 "2005-08-10T17:59:36Z")
> [@Cat Jones](#): > > I think **bookkeeper** may have it - a university can award degrees, a college can’t. I’m sure that will be news to the graduates of the aforementioned Boston College. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/26 "2005-08-10T18:03:56Z")
I think he means “In Canada…” since **bookkeeper** ’s post specificied he was talking about Canada. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/27 "2005-08-10T18:06:05Z")
> [@Cat Jones](#): > > I think **bookkeeper** may have it - a university can award degrees, a college can’t. In what countries are you refering to? That is no the case at all in the U.S. There are hundreds of liberal arts colleges and others that confer undergraduate 4-year degrees just fine all over the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/28 "2005-08-10T18:32:04Z")
> [@Cat Jones](#): > > In universities these same buildings are known as ‘Halls Of Residence’ or just ‘halls’, I spent my first year ‘in halls’ & shared a room but I think it has pretty much been phased out now. We also call them Residence Halls, which I always thought kind of odd, and they usually have the word hall in their names. The residence halls in my college were named after ships of exploration, so I lived first in Meteor Hall and later moved to Beagle Hall. Actually, in America, the buildings of a university often start out with functional names descriptive of their function. My university, UCSD, was still fairly new when I was there, so the academic buildings had names like “Undergraduate Science Building”, “Psychology and Linguistics”, and “Biology II”. I never did find out where “Biology I” was. Eventually these “nameless” buildings do get named for somebody, and then the word “hall” is almost always used, as in “Joe Blow Hall”, usually called “Blow Hall” for short. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/29 "2005-08-10T18:34:07Z")
I forgot to say why I thought the phrase “residence hall” was strange. To me, a hall is either a corridor in a house or other building off of which the rooms are arranged, or it’s a grand country estate or public building. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/30 "2005-08-10T18:44:14Z")
> [@Cat Jones](#): > > I think **bookkeeper** may have it - a university can award degrees, a college can’t. > > . Come to think of it, although he was referring to a different kind of college, that’s also true of the colleges and schools within a university. They don’t technically award degrees either, but recommend to the regents or trustees of the university that the degree be granted. My bachelor’s degree says that my degree is granted by the Regents on the recommendation of the faculty of Revelle College. Similarly, the school or college doesn’t extend the offer of admission, but recommends you for admission to the University Admissions office, which makes the formal offer. Of course, once the school or college recommends you, admission is a slam dunk. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/31 "2005-08-10T18:51:24Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > Eventually these “nameless” buildings do get named for somebody, and then the word “hall” is almost always used, as in “Joe Blow Hall”, usually called “Blow Hall” for short. My college (degree-granting University that held onto the College in its name) actually had a “Blow Memorial Hall” – amusingly enough, it is an adminstration building. If I could defend the term “residence hall” for a moment, not all on-campus housing is dormitory-style anymore. Residence Hall encompasses college-owned apartment complexes and suite complexes as well as traditional dorms. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/32 "2005-08-10T19:12:19Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > Yeah, mine did the same. It’s a euphemism; I guess it sounds nicer to them. Like how they referred to what the cafeteria served as “food”. :: nods :: When I was at university (Waterloo University, Ontario, Canada), I was in residence (not, “in a dormitory”) for the first year. First-year students weren’t allowed to live off-campus. At the time, Waterloo had two main residences for undergrad students, Village One and Village Two. V2 was further from the centre of the campus, housed mostly first-year students, and had the reputation of being a bit of a zoo. V1 was closer and housed mostly upper-year students. Somehow I, a first-year student, got assigned to V1. V2 was long halls with two-person rooms on either side; V1 was connected clusters of buildings with single, connected-single, and double rooms; better views; and a central dining hall. Yes, we called it the “dining hall”, but the food was still institutional. I still remember the meatloaf that changed colour on the cut surface after it was sliced. We came to the conclusion that it was oxidising. 🙂 In second year, we could live off-campus. So two friends and I moved to an apartment building that was close to campus. It was the only close one, and was pretty much all students. The rent was exhorbitant for that place and time ($600/month for a two-bedrioom apt in Waterloo in 1982; $400 was more usual). We called the place Cockroach Towers, but hey, it was home for a while. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/33 "2005-08-10T19:27:01Z")
> [@citybadger](#): > > Would you use the term roommate, flatmate, or housemate for someone with whom you have a romantic or sexual relationship? Or are they ambigous as it is here in the US when someone introduces someone as their roommate? Gah, that drives me bananas, when I introduce **Hamish** as my roommate (for the OP: we share a two-bedroom apartment) and someone goes, “Oh, your roommate or your… _room_mate?” Excuse me, I’ve run for office as an openly gay candidate… if he were my boyfriend, I’d say “boyfriend.” :smack: As for the college bit, in Quebec we have colleges (a.k.a. cégeps, _collège d’enseignement général et professionnel_, ‘general and professional education colleges’), which are two years you take after HS and before university, which is a three-year (or four-year if you’re from out of province and didn’t take cégep) degree-granting institution. So we do distinguish between college and university. ---
**Author:** ![constantine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@constantine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constantine)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/34 "2005-08-10T20:31:08Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > In what countries are you refering to? That is no the case at all in the U.S. There are hundreds of liberal arts colleges and others that confer undergraduate 4-year degrees just fine all over the U.S. Generally speaking instituations in the United States use the term “university” to refer to an institution that grants degrees beyond a bachelors: such as masters, phd, law degree or medical degree. Dartmouth College seems to be an exception to this, since it does have graduate programs. Generally speaking the term “college” refers to an institution that only grants bachelors degrees: bachelor of arts or bachelor of science. A college may be part of a university. Harvard College, for example, is part of Harvard University (which also includes Harvard Law School, Harvard Business School, etc.) ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/35 "2005-08-10T20:39:15Z")
> [@constantine](#): > > Generally speaking instituations in the United States use the term “university” to refer to an institution that grants degrees beyond a bachelors: such as masters, phd, law degree or medical degree. Dartmouth College seems to be an exception to this, since it does have graduate programs. Oddly enough, I went to Dartmouth for grad school. As mentioned above, Boston College also grants graduate degrees. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2005, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/36 "2005-08-10T20:46:07Z")
How about The College of William & Mary, they have a law sschool, business school and PhD programs. The terms have become basically synonymous even if there once was a difference. ---
**Author:** ![constantine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@constantine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constantine)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/37 "2005-08-11T06:54:25Z")
> [@Hello Again](#): > > How about The College of William & Mary, they have a law sschool, business school and PhD programs. > > The terms have become basically synonymous even if there once was a difference. The vast majority of Institutions in the United States follow the usage I described above: a college grants only undergraduate degrees, a university grants graduate degrees (sometimes in addition to undergraduate degrees). There are a few schools on the east coast–all of them over one hundred years old–that started out as “colleges” (in the modern sense of that term) and still refer to themselves as “colleges” even though they grant graduate degrees. But that does not mean that the terms “university” and “college” are “basically synonymous”. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/38 "2005-08-11T08:08:43Z")
> [@](#): > > I’m sure that will be news to the graduates of the aforementioned Boston College. I didn’t mean to be dispariging **Terminus Est**. AFAIK in the UK ‘colleges’ fall into one of two categories previously mentioned, niether awards degrees which was why I liked **bookkeeper** ’s definition. The first are subdivisions of a university - Oxford and Cambridge being the best known examples of collegiate universities, you may be at Caius college but you graduate from Cambridge university. (BTW the colleges don’t even need to be in the same city, the University of Wales has five different colleges and a medical school spread through four cities and a small town.) THe second are a sort of “all purpose” establishment for ‘higher education’. You can do vocational training, school level qualifications, various diplomas and certificates, art foundation courses but I’m 95% sure you can’t do a degree. I could be wrong though, there have been changes since I was part of the system (‘Polytechnics’ have disappeared and been renamed as ‘universities’ for example). A question - Boston College and Dartmouth College have both been mentioned as colleges which award degrees, is it possible that the ‘college’ is part of their chosen name rather then referring to the style of educational establishment ? In the UK a couple of the more (searches hard for adjective) “select” public schools include the word ‘college’ in their name while technically speaking they are simply schools. My examples are Radley College & Eton College, IIRC the former used the word college to reinforce inks with nearby Oxford University. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/96bed5/32.png) [@Cat\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Jones)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/39 "2005-08-11T08:11:12Z")
> [@](#): > > There are a few schools on the east coast–all of them over one hundred years old–that started out as “colleges” (in the modern sense of that term) and still refer to themselves as “colleges” even though they grant graduate degrees. But that does not mean that the terms “university” and “college” are “basically synonymous”. I missed this **Constantine** , I think that answers my question. ---
**Author:** ![spinky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267/40 "2005-08-11T09:57:24Z")
> [@Cat Jones](#): > > To take a random example - how would an American read ‘roommate’ in [this post](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6434128&postcount=29)? I read it as “lucky bastard” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-is-a-roommate-not-a-roommate/316267.md?page=3)