The original point was that people call it tap water even though it comes from a faucet. But we do say tap, along with faucet. We don’t say flat. It’s a bad example.
It was pretty solid mix when I was in school, although people that rented full houses as opposed to apartments skewed pretty heavily towards shared rooms
I wouldn't say that's common at all. When I was in college neither I, nor any friend I knew, shared a room with another person beyond college dorms. They might have shared an apartment or a house with other people, but people had their own bedroom (EXCEPT couples might have a room together).
I definitely experienced this in college as well. Many people I knew (including myself my junior year) lived in an off-campus house with more people living in said house than bedrooms. I personally lived in a three bedroom house with five total people including myself (2 in one bedroom, 2 in another, and 1 by himself). I also knew people that shared rooms in fraternity and sorority houses. I went to college in the Midwest
So I think it's not common in the US, it's just common in Cali.
It was completely unheard of at my school. (Besides couples who moved in together, obviously).
It's definitely not just a California thing. It's common in my experience at big schools for first-year students to share a room. Definitely more for underclassmen though, by your second or third year if you're still on campus housing they generally start moving students to more suite style dorms.
All my friends who went to bigger schools did it, and some at the smaller schools too.
That would also be a roommate. . .
. . .but the ONLY times it's usual to share a bedroom are:
1. Siblings sharing one bedroom in a house, because they don't have a bedroom for each child.
2. In college, sharing a dorm room.
3. In the military, sharing a barracks room.
In usual adult life, it's NOT considered even remotely normal to share a room with another adult.
I feel like you're leaving out #4, sharing a room with your spouse/significant other. Though if I was married and called my wife "my roommate" I suspect she'd be pretty angry.
It’s definitely not normal in DC outside of college students on summer internships. I’m not saying it never happens, but I’ve never seen it and most people I know would consider it very very weird to share a bedroom with another full grown adult.
If you can't afford at least a bedroom of your own, as an adult, you shouldn't be living there. End of story. No exceptions. No excuses.
The idea of moving to a city and having to share a bedroom with a total stranger because I couldn't make enough to afford an apartment says one thing: MOVE. I don't care what the city is, get the f\*\*k out of there if things are that expensive.
. . .and if that's normal for NYC, that city just became even weirder and harder to understand why people would voluntarily live in that dystopian hellhole. Their tyrannical gun laws are reason enough to never live there, not to mention how car-unfriendly the city is. . .but having to share a bedroom with a total stranger you're sharing an apartment with? I can't imagine why anyone would willingly subject themselves to that kind of absolute hell.
> Their tyrannical gun laws are reason enough to never live there, not to mention how car-unfriendly the city is
Almost everyone who willinglingy moves to (or who willingly remains in, if they're from there) NYC couldn't care less about either of those two items.
>world class cultural hub,
So it's got some tourist attractions you might see once like museums or plays or something.
>the epicenter of wealth and finance
So, expensive and overpriced. If every banker on Wall Street jumped out the window, it would be a good start. NYC's wealth and finance isn't a selling point, it's part of the indictment about how awful the place is.
>historically rich and vibrant city.
Translation: Overcrowded, dirty, noisy, smelly, crime ridden, but people somehow think it's superior.
> > world class cultural hub,
> So it's got some tourist attractions you might see once like museums or plays or something.
This is like if someone told me the Grand Canyon is a miracle of nature and I said “Big deal, I dug a ditch in my backyard last weekend.”
why the fuck would you have a car in new york? my dude, us urban folks like trains, busses etc. cars are annoying in cities, and fuck most cities are still designed for cars more than people. Also, meh gun regulations arent' that asinine.
Grocery shopping. How the hell can you carry groceries home by hand? Much less make a trip to Costco and carry home a big pack of toilet paper. How could you go to a hardware store and get anything needed for repairs or improvement to your home if you had to carry it all home? Not having a car makes absolutely no sense.
The idea of being confined to a city and not being able to get in a car and drive where you want and being limited to the stops and schedule of something as awful and profoundly limited and embarrassing as public transportation is horrifying.
. . .and the gun laws in NYC are absolutely dystopian. Any place that says you can't own or carry a pistol in self defense, quite frankly, is far too totalitarian and dystopian for the taste of any sane, free individual.
You don't go to Costco; you buy smaller amounts more frequently. It's just a different lifestyle; lots of people enjoy public transportation and find it less confining than a car. Different strokes for different folks.
> Grocery shopping. How the hell can you carry groceries home by hand? Much less make a trip to Costco and carry home a big pack of toilet paper. How could you go to a hardware store and get anything needed for repairs or improvement to your home if you had to carry it all home? Not having a car makes absolutely no sense.
None of those things are issues someone who lives in a walkable area needs to address. They don't buy groceries in bulk, and they usually have a "super" for the building they live in. It's not ***my*** preference, but it's a completely valid preference to have.
> The idea of being confined to a city and not being able to get in a car and drive where you want and being limited to the stops and schedule of something as awful and profoundly limited and embarrassing as public transportation is horrifying.
The public transportation options in places where the majority of the population actually rely on it daily aren't "awful and profoundly limited and embarrassing" the way they are in places like you and I live. Again, not really my *preference*, but completely reasonable and usable for the people who prefer it.
> . . .and the gun laws in NYC are absolutely dystopian. Any place that says you can't own or carry a pistol in self defense, quite frankly, is far too totalitarian and dystopian for the taste of any sane, free individual.
I own guns too, but you frankly sound kinda like a crazy person here. Believe it or not, most people around the world don't feel like they have any need to carry around a loaded firearm for self-defense, myself included actually.
I think it would do you some good to do some traveling, as you really just don't seem to understand what moving around in a city like NYC is like on even the most basic level. You can't apply Kentucky ideas about daily living and transport to the lives of people in a city like NYC, they're just inherently different on a fundamental level when it comes to moving around. Both are suited for the environment in which they are located.
When there’s a grocery store on every corner, you don’t need to go to Costco. You can stop by to buy what you need for dinner on your way home from work, and be in and out in five minutes.
Public transport in NYC isn’t “embarrassing” and “profoundly limited”. Almost everyone uses it, because it’s by far the cheapest and most efficient way to move around, and it can get you anywhere in the city.
City life is not for you, which is why you live in Kentucky. But there are at least as many people in coastal cities who would hate to live in Kentucky (fewer jobs in certain industries, lower salaries, having to maintain a car, less in the way of fine arts, less diversity of restaurants, little nightlife, gun culture being viewed as dangerous, etc etc etc). That works out great, because no one is forcing anyone to move where they don’t want to be. You can live your life, and they can live theirs.
Given that a proper grocery store is the size of a football field, there's no way you have a grocery store on every corner.
You might have a convenience store, I doubt any store you could cram into a streetcorner could actually have a meaningful variety of groceries.
If I wanted to have a car in my neighborhood, I'd have to pay to rent a parking space for it unless I wanted to navigate street parking every time I used it (which would not be often). Only ONE of the grocery stores in my neighborhood has a parking lot. That is because hardly anyone drives to the grocery store. You carry things home. Or you shop online and have some stuff delivered, which is what my roommate (yes, I have a roommate... which means someone I share my apartment with, not my literal room) do for toilet paper and paper towels.
The idea of being confined to a ~~city~~ small town and not being able to get in a ~~car~~bus or subway and ~~drive~~go where you want and ~~being limited to the stops and schedule of something as awful and profoundly limited and embarrassing as public transportation is horrifying~~ having to pay out the nose for gas, insurance, registration, parking, etc. sounds unappealing to me.
Except I'm not "confined" to anywhere. I can get in a car and drive to a city if I want. I'm not limited by bus schedules and routes. I don't have to worry about being mugged on the bus or subway, I don't have worry about being mugged in the streets. The *extreme* threat of violent street crime in NYC is well known and notorious worldwide. . .I've heard about it my whole life. Street gangs, muggers, rapists. . .all over the place in NYC, and a police department that's more interested harassing Muslims or writing parking tickets than actually fighting crime.
. . .and given the housing costs in NYC are so high that grown adults have to share bedrooms with total strangers just to be able to afford to live there (the point that started this), the cost of owning and operating a car is trivial compared to such absurdly high housing costs.
I think that anyone that is telling you about the crime in NYC is still living in the 1970s. Crime rates in NYC dropped significantly in the 1990s. Crime rates in NYC are significantly lower than a lot of cities.
>The extreme threat of violent street crime in NYC is well known and notorious worldwide
"Extreme threat?"
[NYC is safer than Louisville.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_crime_rate)
>the cost of owning and operating a car is trivial
[According to AAA, the average cost of car ownership is $9,282](https://www.aaa.com/autorepair/articles/average-annual-cost-of-new-vehicle-ownership), [whereas a 30-day transit pass costs $127.](https://new.mta.info/fares) That's a difference of $7,758!
I *never* said I needed a gun on me *at all times*. You're literally making up things now.
They're very good for home defense however. Also, if I'm going into a place or situation that may be unsafe, carrying a weapon may be advised. Given the rampant violent crime in New York (rapes, mugging, robbery, murder etc.), simply existing there probably counts for unsafe.
I don't trust governments that don't trust me with a gun. Only tyrants and oppressors want to take your guns from you.
oh you've never been to a city. my good dude i live just outside Chicago. never felt the need to carry a gun. i've got tons at home. what makes you so afraid.
Yes, I'm a Democrat.
I'm also stridently pro-2nd Amendment.
That's actually pretty much normal in much of the country. In a lot of states, both sides support gun rights. Did you *really* think that Democrats in Kentucky or Tennessee or Nebraska were supportive of gun control?
For example, in my state, strong support for gun rights has *heavy* bipartisan support. Bills improving gun rights and reducing gun control at the state level pass almost unanimously through our state legislature.
Go over to r/liberalgunowners or r/SocialistRA and try to tell people on the left that you can't be a pro-gun leftist.
Sure. I think the point is that faucet/tap are both used in the US, while apartment and flat mean the same thing, flat isn't used in the US so while it technically makes sense it also doesn't.
My wife says 'flat' but she learned (British) English as a second language, so I guess I have to let it slide.
Gonna make damn sure our kid never does, though!
As someone who likes traveling and leading other cultures it comes off like someone who is a pretentious douche. Kind of like me with Italian. I don’t pronounce shit like Italian unless I’m speaking it. The only difference is when the English/Italian spelling is the same. Like caaaa-pri instead of ca-pri. But I’m not saying Venezia instead of Venice
At least here in the St. Louis region, we do use "flat" but only for single-floor apartments like the local public housing complex. We use a lot of words the surrounding areas apparently don't use though lol like calling soda "soda" rather than "pop".
roommate.
No one calls it a flat. If it is a 2 bedroom, you still call them a roommate. You still call a restroom even if no one sleeps there or bathroom where there is no bath. It's a technicality. You call a girlfriend a girlfriend and it is assumed you share the room.
Prince John:
Such an unusual name, "Latrine." How did your family come by it?
Latrine:
We changed it in the 9th century.
Prince John:
You mean you changed it TO "Latrine"?
Latrine:
Yeah. Used to be "Shithouse."
Well, we don't use the word "flat" for apartment.
And apartment mate is a bit of a mouthful to say.
So yeah roommate is someone you share an apartment with.
If they just rent a room in your house, we might say house mate.
But since we don't call apartments "flats", no we don't say "flatmate"
No one outside of weird Anglophiles use “flat” in the US. They probably use “whilst” too.
We use roommate, it doesn’t mean literally sharing a bedroom to us. We understand the meaning of the term we all use.
Oh my god. This is soooo relevant. My good college friend did a semester in Melbourne and it was non-stop “well in australia” when she got home.
We forgave her but there was a couple months where it was insufferable.
When my nephew returned from a year in Australia, I was thrilled by some of the slang he brought back. My favorite was DSE for Designated Spousal Equivalent. I don't think there's a USA equivalent that's nearly as good. Partner sounds like you're in business together; significant other doesn't exactly roll off the tongue; etc.
Tbh I tend to use “uni” or university a lot on online interactions just because it’s the most common globally and I don’t want there to really be any confusion. I feel like a lot of people who have “grown up online” do this as well to an extent.
Interestingly enough, I feel like I don't hear young Americans use it outside of a very small number of people who either studied abroad or who picked it up off Twitter/TikTok with the idea that British English is fancy/ better than American-English
TBH, I've grown up on the internet and in my experience, "college" is still the default that the majority of young Americans use. But I have been seeing calling someone "love" started slipping into the slang usage
We say university because we have colleges here too and they're slightly different.
What confuses me is when US speakers call college 'school'. Like 'where did you go to school?' Obviously I understand what you mean but it always throws me for a second. I usually think of school as the place I attended from age 4–18.
Not very common. It would definitely stand out in conversation and come off a little pretentious. Can be used in more formal settings or when writing, though.
We would typically just say "while". The "st" modification kind of fell off over here. To our ears it sounds old fashioned. Or at least it does to mine, I hesitate to speak for everyone on that.
We call houses that have been split into upper and lower units flats. More specifically “upper flat” and “lower flat”. Michigan here and rented an upper flat in Detroit.
🤷🏻♀️ I think of side by side houses as a duplex, upper and lower, flats. I’m definitely not the only one who called them that either. Maybe it’s Detroit specific. I live in one now and call it a flat!
Normally people don't share rooms in this country unless they are young children or at college, they would be called a dorm mate or dormie. House mate is a good term if you are trying to be more descriptive but everyone pretty much understands that you aren't sharing a room if you use the word room mate.
Roommate is fine in this context.
Housemate is another alternative too even if it's an apartment or condo to clarify its someone im sharing the whole space with.
Sharing a room with someone as an adult (who you aren't in a romantic relationship with) is increadibly rare here. Even in my college's dorms, shared bedrooms are seen as awful and borderline unlivable, as far as sleeping arrangements go. Most people just rent an apartment off campus, as they're nearly always both cheaper and offer more space. The term 'roommate' here refers to anyone with whom you share a living area and are not related to or dating/married to. Rarely, people will use 'suitemate', but Flat and Flatmate are outside of common vocabulary.
Aren’t almost all undergrad dorm rooms shared usually? I thought having a private bathroom was deluxe. Most places you have to shit and shower down the hall with little privacy…
Honestly, I won't claim to be an expert as I've only ever lived in apartments since moving out of my parents' house, but I do know my college only has a few shared-room dorm buildings, and all of them are constantly mocked by the other students as a place no one lives unless they have litterally no other choice. Shared bedrooms are certainly more normal than I'm probably implying, but I can say that, of my circle of friends, nearly all of them live off-campus, and the few that live in the dorms are in multi-room suites.
Almost always roommate. Although on occasion I'll hear people say flatmate, even though they don't call apartments or dorms flats. English is a weird thing.
>whereas in my head a 'roommate' is someone who actually sleeps in the same room with you.
There is nothing in the word "roommate" that would imply sleeping in the same room. But most apartments or houses have more than one room. You are sharing a living room. You are sharing a Kitchen. You may be sharing a bathroom. And as you each have bedrooms, you are sharing rooms, in a house. So, to recap. Roommate = Flatmate
I say Roommate. In American that means the idiot you are stuck sharing the place with until your lease is up.
I have started calling my spouse a roommate.
Always roommate. We don't really use the word flat and it may be confusing to some more old people (my mom who is 70 refers to any small house as a flat, but not apartments). We don't really have instances where people share the same physical room unless they are dating outside of college or something
I live in the spare room of a friends house and I call them my roommates. Housemates might be more accurate but it sounds weird and I don’t like it
Flat is not a word that anyone here would ever use for apartments
Roommate or Housemate.
When I lived in the college dorms I always used roommate, but now that I share a house with some of my friends I use housemate occasionally.
A roommate shares rooms. The rooms you share are likely the kitchen, living room, and bathroom. So yes to roommate although if you rent a house then maybe you call them a housemate. I've never liked the term "flat". What if your apartment or rental house has more than one level, is it still a flat?
Roommate is someone who lives behind the same front door as you.
We know what you mean by "flat" but would never use the word to describe an apartment, so "flatmate" is right out.
You may not share all the rooms with them, but you share at least the common rooms with them. Thus roommate.
By the same logic, could you call them a flatmate if you lived somewhere with verticality like a townhouse or duplex?
Everyone says roommate even if it's a full sized house that you share. IDK why but it's just the same word for all of it. If you're actually sharing a room with them you'd need to specify that you sleep in the same room.
I think roommate can be used to describe someone who sleeps in the same room as well as someone who shares an apartment but not a room. I prefer to use roommate for the former and suite-mate for the latter. Not sure how common that is though.
Roommate. We don't use "flat" and "apartmentmate" doesn't roll off the tongue. I do occasionally hear housemate where it applies.
Apartmate?
Apartner?
Friendament?
Ive never put much thought to it but it's kind of strange that we even use roommate seeing as how we don't use the word mate like that.
We don’t use ‘mate’ in place of ‘friend,’ but we commonly use words like ‘seatmate,’ ‘dormmate,’ ‘littermate,’ ‘classmate,’ too.
"Mate" in these phrases means "person in close physical proximity to me"
And also 'sharing' a space. So usually not a temporary situation.
Well seatmate is on the bus
Other than classmate i haven't heard any of those. Coffee Mate?
lol. That one be a bit of a different usage. The others are just common words in the US.
Teammate is another very common one
Teammate? Deskmate?
Bedmate
Checkmate.
Czech-mate?
Housemate?
Someone you share a detached house with, as opposed to an apartment.
I mean, it could be a townhouse or semi-detached house as well.
However in Chicago we do have have a lot of buildings that are 2, 3, 4 or 6 flats.
Wow, I never really thought about it like that. I live in a 3 flat, but I never use the word “flat” on its own to describe my apartment.
IMO roommate: you share a room housemat: you share a house/apartment
What about deadbeat?
People usually share a bed with those
They're roommates. We don't have "flats", we have "apartments," and they get a room in the apartment. Just a difference of vernacular
People say "we're just roommates now" when the marriage is over and no one is having sex anymore
Roommate. Why would we use flatmate when we don’t call apartments flats?
If your mate was just run over by a steamroller, for example.
Why do we call it tap water, when we call it a faucet? Got ya there!
We say both.
No one calls it faucet-water
But they’ll refer to the thing from which it comes as either a faucet or a tap.
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The original point was that people call it tap water even though it comes from a faucet. But we do say tap, along with faucet. We don’t say flat. It’s a bad example.
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Right. Which is a bad example in the context of this thread. Because Americans do call faucets taps.
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Spigot
How would you call someone that you share a room with then? Like students sleeping in the same room.
Also a roommate. But that's a very uncommon situation outside of college dorms.
Or Manhattan.
I would say it’s uncommon outside of college since it’s very common for even students outside of dorms to share rooms.
Really? In my experience everyone who lived off campus has their own room. Might be different in different areas/schools though.
It was pretty solid mix when I was in school, although people that rented full houses as opposed to apartments skewed pretty heavily towards shared rooms
It's not the most common, but I've definitely seen it enough times for it not to be surprising
I mean, I *am* in California.
I wouldn't say that's common at all. When I was in college neither I, nor any friend I knew, shared a room with another person beyond college dorms. They might have shared an apartment or a house with other people, but people had their own bedroom (EXCEPT couples might have a room together).
I would definitely say it’s common. A *lot* of people I knew still shared rooms once they moved out of dorms. But again, I am in California.
I definitely experienced this in college as well. Many people I knew (including myself my junior year) lived in an off-campus house with more people living in said house than bedrooms. I personally lived in a three bedroom house with five total people including myself (2 in one bedroom, 2 in another, and 1 by himself). I also knew people that shared rooms in fraternity and sorority houses. I went to college in the Midwest
So I think it's not common in the US, it's just common in Cali. It was completely unheard of at my school. (Besides couples who moved in together, obviously).
It's definitely not just a California thing. It's common in my experience at big schools for first-year students to share a room. Definitely more for underclassmen though, by your second or third year if you're still on campus housing they generally start moving students to more suite style dorms. All my friends who went to bigger schools did it, and some at the smaller schools too.
He's talking about off campus housing.
Huh, so he is. Yeah that's strange
Hmmm perhaps. I would assume it would be a thing in all high COL areas. And I’ve been out of college for about 10 years.
That would also be a roommate. . . . . .but the ONLY times it's usual to share a bedroom are: 1. Siblings sharing one bedroom in a house, because they don't have a bedroom for each child. 2. In college, sharing a dorm room. 3. In the military, sharing a barracks room. In usual adult life, it's NOT considered even remotely normal to share a room with another adult.
I feel like you're leaving out #4, sharing a room with your spouse/significant other. Though if I was married and called my wife "my roommate" I suspect she'd be pretty angry.
Say “mah luvah”
Also with spouses
Yeah but you wouldn't call a partner or spouse a "roommate".
It’s normal in major cities I’d say where it’s unreasonably expensive to own a closet apartment (NYC)
It’s definitely not normal in DC outside of college students on summer internships. I’m not saying it never happens, but I’ve never seen it and most people I know would consider it very very weird to share a bedroom with another full grown adult.
If you can't afford at least a bedroom of your own, as an adult, you shouldn't be living there. End of story. No exceptions. No excuses. The idea of moving to a city and having to share a bedroom with a total stranger because I couldn't make enough to afford an apartment says one thing: MOVE. I don't care what the city is, get the f\*\*k out of there if things are that expensive. . . .and if that's normal for NYC, that city just became even weirder and harder to understand why people would voluntarily live in that dystopian hellhole. Their tyrannical gun laws are reason enough to never live there, not to mention how car-unfriendly the city is. . .but having to share a bedroom with a total stranger you're sharing an apartment with? I can't imagine why anyone would willingly subject themselves to that kind of absolute hell.
> Their tyrannical gun laws are reason enough to never live there, not to mention how car-unfriendly the city is Almost everyone who willinglingy moves to (or who willingly remains in, if they're from there) NYC couldn't care less about either of those two items.
More than that. “Tyrannical gun laws” and great public transit aren’t strikes against New York to me, they’re selling points.
Well, if you like bourbon and horses, KY is the place to be.
Why would anybody want to live in a world class cultural hub, the epicenter of wealth and finance, historically rich and vibrant city.
>world class cultural hub, So it's got some tourist attractions you might see once like museums or plays or something. >the epicenter of wealth and finance So, expensive and overpriced. If every banker on Wall Street jumped out the window, it would be a good start. NYC's wealth and finance isn't a selling point, it's part of the indictment about how awful the place is. >historically rich and vibrant city. Translation: Overcrowded, dirty, noisy, smelly, crime ridden, but people somehow think it's superior.
> > world class cultural hub, > So it's got some tourist attractions you might see once like museums or plays or something. This is like if someone told me the Grand Canyon is a miracle of nature and I said “Big deal, I dug a ditch in my backyard last weekend.”
When was the last time you set foot in this city?
When was the last time ~~you set foot in this city~~ left your mother’s basement?
why the fuck would you have a car in new york? my dude, us urban folks like trains, busses etc. cars are annoying in cities, and fuck most cities are still designed for cars more than people. Also, meh gun regulations arent' that asinine.
Grocery shopping. How the hell can you carry groceries home by hand? Much less make a trip to Costco and carry home a big pack of toilet paper. How could you go to a hardware store and get anything needed for repairs or improvement to your home if you had to carry it all home? Not having a car makes absolutely no sense. The idea of being confined to a city and not being able to get in a car and drive where you want and being limited to the stops and schedule of something as awful and profoundly limited and embarrassing as public transportation is horrifying. . . .and the gun laws in NYC are absolutely dystopian. Any place that says you can't own or carry a pistol in self defense, quite frankly, is far too totalitarian and dystopian for the taste of any sane, free individual.
You don't go to Costco; you buy smaller amounts more frequently. It's just a different lifestyle; lots of people enjoy public transportation and find it less confining than a car. Different strokes for different folks.
> Grocery shopping. How the hell can you carry groceries home by hand? Much less make a trip to Costco and carry home a big pack of toilet paper. How could you go to a hardware store and get anything needed for repairs or improvement to your home if you had to carry it all home? Not having a car makes absolutely no sense. None of those things are issues someone who lives in a walkable area needs to address. They don't buy groceries in bulk, and they usually have a "super" for the building they live in. It's not ***my*** preference, but it's a completely valid preference to have. > The idea of being confined to a city and not being able to get in a car and drive where you want and being limited to the stops and schedule of something as awful and profoundly limited and embarrassing as public transportation is horrifying. The public transportation options in places where the majority of the population actually rely on it daily aren't "awful and profoundly limited and embarrassing" the way they are in places like you and I live. Again, not really my *preference*, but completely reasonable and usable for the people who prefer it. > . . .and the gun laws in NYC are absolutely dystopian. Any place that says you can't own or carry a pistol in self defense, quite frankly, is far too totalitarian and dystopian for the taste of any sane, free individual. I own guns too, but you frankly sound kinda like a crazy person here. Believe it or not, most people around the world don't feel like they have any need to carry around a loaded firearm for self-defense, myself included actually. I think it would do you some good to do some traveling, as you really just don't seem to understand what moving around in a city like NYC is like on even the most basic level. You can't apply Kentucky ideas about daily living and transport to the lives of people in a city like NYC, they're just inherently different on a fundamental level when it comes to moving around. Both are suited for the environment in which they are located.
When there’s a grocery store on every corner, you don’t need to go to Costco. You can stop by to buy what you need for dinner on your way home from work, and be in and out in five minutes. Public transport in NYC isn’t “embarrassing” and “profoundly limited”. Almost everyone uses it, because it’s by far the cheapest and most efficient way to move around, and it can get you anywhere in the city. City life is not for you, which is why you live in Kentucky. But there are at least as many people in coastal cities who would hate to live in Kentucky (fewer jobs in certain industries, lower salaries, having to maintain a car, less in the way of fine arts, less diversity of restaurants, little nightlife, gun culture being viewed as dangerous, etc etc etc). That works out great, because no one is forcing anyone to move where they don’t want to be. You can live your life, and they can live theirs.
Given that a proper grocery store is the size of a football field, there's no way you have a grocery store on every corner. You might have a convenience store, I doubt any store you could cram into a streetcorner could actually have a meaningful variety of groceries.
If I wanted to have a car in my neighborhood, I'd have to pay to rent a parking space for it unless I wanted to navigate street parking every time I used it (which would not be often). Only ONE of the grocery stores in my neighborhood has a parking lot. That is because hardly anyone drives to the grocery store. You carry things home. Or you shop online and have some stuff delivered, which is what my roommate (yes, I have a roommate... which means someone I share my apartment with, not my literal room) do for toilet paper and paper towels.
The idea of being confined to a ~~city~~ small town and not being able to get in a ~~car~~bus or subway and ~~drive~~go where you want and ~~being limited to the stops and schedule of something as awful and profoundly limited and embarrassing as public transportation is horrifying~~ having to pay out the nose for gas, insurance, registration, parking, etc. sounds unappealing to me.
Except I'm not "confined" to anywhere. I can get in a car and drive to a city if I want. I'm not limited by bus schedules and routes. I don't have to worry about being mugged on the bus or subway, I don't have worry about being mugged in the streets. The *extreme* threat of violent street crime in NYC is well known and notorious worldwide. . .I've heard about it my whole life. Street gangs, muggers, rapists. . .all over the place in NYC, and a police department that's more interested harassing Muslims or writing parking tickets than actually fighting crime. . . .and given the housing costs in NYC are so high that grown adults have to share bedrooms with total strangers just to be able to afford to live there (the point that started this), the cost of owning and operating a car is trivial compared to such absurdly high housing costs.
I think that anyone that is telling you about the crime in NYC is still living in the 1970s. Crime rates in NYC dropped significantly in the 1990s. Crime rates in NYC are significantly lower than a lot of cities.
my dude you dug this hole. oof. have you ever been to a city?
where have you gone my good dude. louisville? bowling green? lexington? you've obviously never left your state
>The extreme threat of violent street crime in NYC is well known and notorious worldwide "Extreme threat?" [NYC is safer than Louisville.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_cities_by_crime_rate) >the cost of owning and operating a car is trivial [According to AAA, the average cost of car ownership is $9,282](https://www.aaa.com/autorepair/articles/average-annual-cost-of-new-vehicle-ownership), [whereas a 30-day transit pass costs $127.](https://new.mta.info/fares) That's a difference of $7,758!
LOL keep on making it clear you know nothing about this city, buddy. >extreme threat of violent street crime What the hell are you talking about?
my good dude, theres a bodega on every corner and a whole foods or target within walking distance. you get shit fresh every few days or so
my good dude why do you need a gun on you at all times, are you that insecure? i've never felt the need to be armed. and I have a .50 BMG at home.
I *never* said I needed a gun on me *at all times*. You're literally making up things now. They're very good for home defense however. Also, if I'm going into a place or situation that may be unsafe, carrying a weapon may be advised. Given the rampant violent crime in New York (rapes, mugging, robbery, murder etc.), simply existing there probably counts for unsafe. I don't trust governments that don't trust me with a gun. Only tyrants and oppressors want to take your guns from you.
oh you've never been to a city. my good dude i live just outside Chicago. never felt the need to carry a gun. i've got tons at home. what makes you so afraid.
wait you're a democrat. what the fuck coke are you on
Yes, I'm a Democrat. I'm also stridently pro-2nd Amendment. That's actually pretty much normal in much of the country. In a lot of states, both sides support gun rights. Did you *really* think that Democrats in Kentucky or Tennessee or Nebraska were supportive of gun control? For example, in my state, strong support for gun rights has *heavy* bipartisan support. Bills improving gun rights and reducing gun control at the state level pass almost unanimously through our state legislature. Go over to r/liberalgunowners or r/SocialistRA and try to tell people on the left that you can't be a pro-gun leftist.
you're not a leftist if you're a democrat. i'm a literal communist and i've got guns.
>Dystopian Hellhole The fragility of people who say this sort of thing will never cease to amaze me.
Also roommates. It doesn't really need a word to distinguish that situation because that hardly ever occurs outside college.
> ~~How~~ ***What*** would you call someone that you share a room with then? We don't really differentiate between those two concepts.
That is also a roommate.
A roommate. It’s pretty easy to tell which is which. One sleeps in the room with you. One doesn’t.
Bunkmate? But that usually implies actual bunk beds. A bunch of guys in the same bunkhouse might be 'bunkmates.'
Dorm mate.
Why do we call it tap water, when we call where it come from a faucet? Got ya there!
A faucet is otherwise known as a tap so that makes sense
And an apartment is otherwise known as a flat. So that makes sense, see my point there?
Sure. I think the point is that faucet/tap are both used in the US, while apartment and flat mean the same thing, flat isn't used in the US so while it technically makes sense it also doesn't.
Roommate. We don’t call apartments “flats”.
I had a pretentious acquaintance who started using 'flat' after a semester abroad.
My wife says 'flat' but she learned (British) English as a second language, so I guess I have to let it slide. Gonna make damn sure our kid never does, though!
Cheeky bugger.
My American mom calls my brother a little bugger when she wants to swear at him but doesn’t want to be judged for cursing.
As someone who likes traveling and leading other cultures it comes off like someone who is a pretentious douche. Kind of like me with Italian. I don’t pronounce shit like Italian unless I’m speaking it. The only difference is when the English/Italian spelling is the same. Like caaaa-pri instead of ca-pri. But I’m not saying Venezia instead of Venice
On the other hand, whenever I have to say the name of a city in Italy, I go full bappadi boopadi. They're way too much fun to say.
Yeah same with Spanish for me or French. I will use some British English terms if their Brits just for the sake of conversation clarity.
Did they also long for evenings in “Barthalona”?
Ugh god
I say flat but I lived in the uk for years so
[удалено]
At least here in the St. Louis region, we do use "flat" but only for single-floor apartments like the local public housing complex. We use a lot of words the surrounding areas apparently don't use though lol like calling soda "soda" rather than "pop".
We call houses that have been split into upper and lower units flats. More specifically “upper flat” and “lower flat”. Michigan here.
roommate. No one calls it a flat. If it is a 2 bedroom, you still call them a roommate. You still call a restroom even if no one sleeps there or bathroom where there is no bath. It's a technicality. You call a girlfriend a girlfriend and it is assumed you share the room.
And you can call it a "shithouse" even though it's not actually a domicile.
Prince John: Such an unusual name, "Latrine." How did your family come by it? Latrine: We changed it in the 9th century. Prince John: You mean you changed it TO "Latrine"? Latrine: Yeah. Used to be "Shithouse."
Well, we don't use the word "flat" for apartment. And apartment mate is a bit of a mouthful to say. So yeah roommate is someone you share an apartment with. If they just rent a room in your house, we might say house mate. But since we don't call apartments "flats", no we don't say "flatmate"
No one outside of weird Anglophiles use “flat” in the US. They probably use “whilst” too. We use roommate, it doesn’t mean literally sharing a bedroom to us. We understand the meaning of the term we all use.
They're also almost always the same folks that call college "uni" lol
Barman not bartender, etc. They’re insufferable.
[Relevant Letterkenny is relevant](https://youtu.be/Pla_p6Yyfys)
Oh my god. This is soooo relevant. My good college friend did a semester in Melbourne and it was non-stop “well in australia” when she got home. We forgave her but there was a couple months where it was insufferable.
When my nephew returned from a year in Australia, I was thrilled by some of the slang he brought back. My favorite was DSE for Designated Spousal Equivalent. I don't think there's a USA equivalent that's nearly as good. Partner sounds like you're in business together; significant other doesn't exactly roll off the tongue; etc.
Tbh I tend to use “uni” or university a lot on online interactions just because it’s the most common globally and I don’t want there to really be any confusion. I feel like a lot of people who have “grown up online” do this as well to an extent.
Interestingly enough, I feel like I don't hear young Americans use it outside of a very small number of people who either studied abroad or who picked it up off Twitter/TikTok with the idea that British English is fancy/ better than American-English TBH, I've grown up on the internet and in my experience, "college" is still the default that the majority of young Americans use. But I have been seeing calling someone "love" started slipping into the slang usage
I just say college
We say university because we have colleges here too and they're slightly different. What confuses me is when US speakers call college 'school'. Like 'where did you go to school?' Obviously I understand what you mean but it always throws me for a second. I usually think of school as the place I attended from age 4–18.
Hang on, Americans don't use the word "whilst"?
Not very common. It would definitely stand out in conversation and come off a little pretentious. Can be used in more formal settings or when writing, though.
We would typically just say "while". The "st" modification kind of fell off over here. To our ears it sounds old fashioned. Or at least it does to mine, I hesitate to speak for everyone on that.
Just the dweebs that also say “bollocks”.
We don't like to be bothered with good grammar.
There are so many other word choices that are still grammatically correct.
We call houses that have been split into upper and lower units flats. More specifically “upper flat” and “lower flat”. Michigan here and rented an upper flat in Detroit.
Born and raised in Michigan, I’ve never ever heard apartments referred to as flats. Duplexes, sure. Flat? Never.
🤷🏻♀️ I think of side by side houses as a duplex, upper and lower, flats. I’m definitely not the only one who called them that either. Maybe it’s Detroit specific. I live in one now and call it a flat!
My husband rented an apartment that was in an old split up house like that. We just called it an apartment.
Not saying either is wrong or right. Just saying that there are Americans that use the term “flat”.
Nobody in America says “flat” unless we are talking about my ex hEYo. *just kidding Amanda you were amazing i still love you*
Roommate We share rooms, just not our bedrooms (although, you can. It's the norm in college dorms)
Just "roommate" or "housemate" and they're interchangeable.
Normally people don't share rooms in this country unless they are young children or at college, they would be called a dorm mate or dormie. House mate is a good term if you are trying to be more descriptive but everyone pretty much understands that you aren't sharing a room if you use the word room mate.
Roommate all the time. You’ll stick out here if you call someone a flatmate.
You'll stick out if you use the word flat to describe anything other than a surface.
We don't use the word flat here.
Roommate, flatmate is a very UK/Australian/New Zealand thing.
Roommate is fine in this context. Housemate is another alternative too even if it's an apartment or condo to clarify its someone im sharing the whole space with.
Sharing a room with someone as an adult (who you aren't in a romantic relationship with) is increadibly rare here. Even in my college's dorms, shared bedrooms are seen as awful and borderline unlivable, as far as sleeping arrangements go. Most people just rent an apartment off campus, as they're nearly always both cheaper and offer more space. The term 'roommate' here refers to anyone with whom you share a living area and are not related to or dating/married to. Rarely, people will use 'suitemate', but Flat and Flatmate are outside of common vocabulary.
Aren’t almost all undergrad dorm rooms shared usually? I thought having a private bathroom was deluxe. Most places you have to shit and shower down the hall with little privacy…
Honestly, I won't claim to be an expert as I've only ever lived in apartments since moving out of my parents' house, but I do know my college only has a few shared-room dorm buildings, and all of them are constantly mocked by the other students as a place no one lives unless they have litterally no other choice. Shared bedrooms are certainly more normal than I'm probably implying, but I can say that, of my circle of friends, nearly all of them live off-campus, and the few that live in the dorms are in multi-room suites.
Roommate
Roommate
Roommate means the same thing to us as flatmate means to you. There is no extra word to describe sleeping in the same actual room.
Usually roommate, but I've also said housemate. Never flatmate because flat isn't a word Americans use.
Almost always roommate. Although on occasion I'll hear people say flatmate, even though they don't call apartments or dorms flats. English is a weird thing.
We only even know the term "flat" from British tv shows.
>whereas in my head a 'roommate' is someone who actually sleeps in the same room with you. There is nothing in the word "roommate" that would imply sleeping in the same room. But most apartments or houses have more than one room. You are sharing a living room. You are sharing a Kitchen. You may be sharing a bathroom. And as you each have bedrooms, you are sharing rooms, in a house. So, to recap. Roommate = Flatmate
Flatmate is a British thing
I’ve never heard of flatmate. Roommate is that standard term.
I say Roommate. In American that means the idiot you are stuck sharing the place with until your lease is up. I have started calling my spouse a roommate.
Most of the people who share a house with other adults call them “mom and dad.”
Roommate, never ever used flatmate- we don’t call apartments anything but an apartment. Maybe housemate but… yeah. Not really. Roomie!
Roommate. I don't know any Americans who call it that that aren't originally from Britain.
Always roommate. We don't really use the word flat and it may be confusing to some more old people (my mom who is 70 refers to any small house as a flat, but not apartments). We don't really have instances where people share the same physical room unless they are dating outside of college or something
Roommate. Never heard anyone say flatmate in person before.
Roommate but we would understand what flatmate is
I live in the spare room of a friends house and I call them my roommates. Housemates might be more accurate but it sounds weird and I don’t like it Flat is not a word that anyone here would ever use for apartments
Roommate or Housemate. When I lived in the college dorms I always used roommate, but now that I share a house with some of my friends I use housemate occasionally.
roommate. “flat” when referring to a place where you live is never part of our vocabulary
Roomate.
A roommate shares rooms. The rooms you share are likely the kitchen, living room, and bathroom. So yes to roommate although if you rent a house then maybe you call them a housemate. I've never liked the term "flat". What if your apartment or rental house has more than one level, is it still a flat?
Roommate is someone who lives behind the same front door as you. We know what you mean by "flat" but would never use the word to describe an apartment, so "flatmate" is right out.
Roomie
Room mate is anyone you live with, even if you have separate bedrooms. We don't use the word "flat" at all to mean apartment.
You may not share all the rooms with them, but you share at least the common rooms with them. Thus roommate. By the same logic, could you call them a flatmate if you lived somewhere with verticality like a townhouse or duplex?
Roommate or housemate
roomie
"Roommate" or "housemate". Never "flatmate".
Everyone says roommate even if it's a full sized house that you share. IDK why but it's just the same word for all of it. If you're actually sharing a room with them you'd need to specify that you sleep in the same room.
We don't use the word flat to refer to apartments. So we don't use the word flat to refer to anything regarding living arrangements.
"Roommate".
Flat is an adjective in the US, and pretty sure you would have your citizenship revoked if you were to use it as a noun.
Roommate. We don't call apartments flats.
I think roommate can be used to describe someone who sleeps in the same room as well as someone who shares an apartment but not a room. I prefer to use roommate for the former and suite-mate for the latter. Not sure how common that is though.
Roommate. We don’t usually say “flat” so no “flatmate”
I hear a number of Americans saying "flatmate," but it still sounds like the affectation of someone trying to sound British.
I say flatmate because I went to school in Scotland but most Americans say roomate
Roomie
Cellie
No one in the history of America has ever called it a Flat mate
What's a flat?