Need a little help with your language please

[giantangryrooster]

I'm Scandinavian, I try my best with your language, but am still bewildered about livingrooms/dens, toilets/loos etc .

But can any of you enlighten me on two words?

Where I'm from we call it summer house, what do you call it... Cottage, holiday home, second home and what is the difference?

Secondly wood/forrest, is a wood smaller? How small, then?
Do you call it wood or woods?

Just confused can you help, please.

I'm Scottish and we do have variations but I would say 'a wood' and it's much smaller than a forest.

I would say 'holiday cottage' or 'our cottage'. Again, there will be a lot of variation.

The UK is quite riddled with regional variations linguistically.

I think den is American. I say living room.

A forest is big, a wood is smaller, but not as small as a copse. Normallya wood is singular if you are referring to a particular one e.g The animals of Farthing Wood. I would use "woods" if not referring to the name e.g I'm going into the woods.

Cottage, holiday home, second home and what is the difference?
Depends on whether you own it or not! Second home is only possible if it's yours. The others can be owned or not. A cottage should be small and/or pretty or at least old.

"Den" is an American term.

The toilet/loo/lavatory/bathroom and living room/sitting room/lounge distinction is primarily a class shibboleth, like pardon vs what or sofa/settee/couch.

I'm British and a living room/lounge/sitting room are all the same to me. They can have different class connotations. A drawing room would be found in a stately home. The terms change over time too as the same room might well have been called the parlour in the first half of the 20th century. There might be no TV in this room in some people's houses.

A den/snug/family room is a less formal living room. It might have toys, TV, etc. The term den is from American English.

Toilet/loo/bathroom/cloakroom/washroom all mean pretty much the same, again with different class connotations and ideas about what is polite. Sometimes referred to as the smallest room.

A wood is smaller than a forest, but you'd typically say you were going to the woods, not the wood. You might also say you were going to the woods when you mean forest. I'd say wood or forest depending on what the local name was for the wooded area.

Confused? You will be.

Oh and a summer house is a shed with glass doors. You sit in it in summer rather than storing the gardening tools in it. A holiday cottage is usually a house you rent. A second home is one you own and visit for more than a few weeks' holiday. E.g. you might spend weekends there. A holiday home is a house you own and go on holiday to.

Thanks for replying.
Did you have to introduce copse . Had to look it up even though google suggested corpse.

So if I want to say 'there is a wood at the back of my garden' with no name reference, it should be woods, right?

Re. Second home, yes we own it, but only use it for holidays, so not really a second home as such.

You could say there is a wood at the back of my garden or there are woods at the back of my garden. People would just picture trees.

Thanks again. I got a feeling, I'm going to be even more confused .

A den is something children build in the woods. A Forest is huge, the Uk doesn't have much left in the way of real forest any more, most have been destroyed and left woodland that is bits of forest separated by fields.

Summer house I think of as a posh shed in your own garden. Holiday home is literally- holiday home.

If I had a tree dense area close to my house I’d say ‘there’s woods at the bottom of my garden’

I'd call your second home a 'holiday home' - or a holiday ..... (depending on what it was) cottage/chalet/caravan/apartment if I wanted to be more specific.

Also a spinney is another name for a group of trees. A spinney is smaller than a copse.

I think I would say that a "summer house" to most English people would be a small decorative wooden house situated in your garden. It might be used for storage, for a child's playhouse or for a home office but would not generally be used to sleep in or live in. It might have electricity but would be unlikely to have mains water or a toilet.

A small house in the country, or in an area away from your main family house, and used to stay in for weekends or holidays would be a cottage, or second home . It could also be called a holiday home, and this term would also be used to describe a fixed caravan, or a chalet building on a site which serves the same purpose but would not be seen as so desireable as a traditionally built cottage.

Forest and wood are a matter of size. Both could contain ancient indigenous trees , or could have been planted deliberately using either indigenous trees or selected trees, often non native pine or other species.

This is a UK summer house it's a pretty she'd.

Shed* not she'd

www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/blog/2018/03/difference-between-wood-and-forest/

I have nothing useful to add, I just want to say I never realised English was such a bitch of a language!

Then there is a grove which is a small area of woodland without undergrowth, an orchard would be a grove

You can say, "There is a wood at the back of my house.", "There are woods at the back of my house.", or even, "There is woodland at the back at the back of my house." You can also say, 'behind my house'.

Grammatically "there's woods" doesn't agree as you've got a singular verb with a plural noun. But it's something you hear people say.

I'm American. We would usually say "vacation home" or "second home" or if applicable "beach house" or "mountain house" or "lake house." Sometimes "cottage" is used, especially in the Northeast. (I'm in the South.)

A forest is larger than a wood. We would usually say "woods" plural, as in there are woods behind my house.

There are lots of regional variations in the US, but I think "den" is falling out of favor. "Family room" is the most common term for the room used to watch TV and relax. "Living room" often connotes a more formal room in the house.

People in the US avoid the word "toilet" at all costs. The only time we say the word is if we have to refer to the actual fixture as in "DH, can you come in here and bring the plunger, the toilet is stopped up." A room is never called a toilet. It's "bathroom" if in a private house or "restroom" if in a public building.

You'll definitely leave more confused!!

NZ The summer house -that's a Bach (sounds like batch)

UK Tends to be less generic and more 'The cottage''The beach house''the city apartment' or sometimes the location

NZ - the Bush 🤣. UK woods for somewhere local & more natural. Place name for lots of places.

Good luck with Loo/toilet 🤣. I go to the loo, the piece of porcelain is the toilet. But often also 'bathroom/ladies/little girls room.

Just roll with it, don't try to understand!