Re: Not always joking, it seems

Colette Reap <colette@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Tim Merrigan <tppm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> Colette Reap <colette@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>>> 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.

I'm skeptical that the majority of American families own a home, and
even more skeptical that the majority own a free-standing house rather
than a rowhouse, condo, co-op, or half a duplex.  The US is no longer
a predominantly rural nation.  Most Americans live in built-up areas.

> 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.

To me, a "home" is anywhere that someone lives, which may be free
standing or not, shared or not, and rented or not.  A "house" is a
building used or intended as the home of just one family.

> 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.

Right.

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

That's what I call them, but marketers call them "luxury townhomes."
Around here they often sell for over a million dollars.
-- 
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html
before emailing me.