Re: Not always joking, it seems

Tim Merrigan <tppm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:

>On Wed, 20 Feb 2008 20:53:26 +0000, Colette Reap <colette@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>wrote:
>
>>David Friedman <ddfr@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Any idea what fraction of the households in the UK own their own
houses?
>>
>>Yes. Looked it up a couple of years ago when someone (from outside the
>>UK) claimed that very few people in the UK owned their own home.
>>
>>The actual percentage of home owner****p in the UK is about 70%.
>
>Need a definition of terms.  What constitutes a "home"?
>
>IME here in the US that term generally means a free standing house
>owned by the tenants.

AFAIAA, the definition in the UK is not so narrow - a "home" in this
context would be any dwelling (house or flat) that the occupant(s) are
in the process of buying/have bought.

Someone who lived in a property that they were buying/had bought would
never be referred to as a tenant - that's only used to describe people
who are renting.

And you speak of free standing houses - what about what I believe you
call row houses?

> Your flat, 

That was Jette talking about where she lives in Scotland...

>which you, contradictorily for US
>terminology, referred to upthread as an apartment 

and I believe that in Scotland it is not unusual for flats to be
called apartments. 

> Here that would make it a condominium unit 

As Jette, said elsethread, the word condominium is not used here at
all. Nor are there separate words in English to differentiate between
a flat that is rented and one that is owned.

>Also, IIUC condos aren't included in "homeowner" statistics.

I wonder why.
-- 
Colette