Are maidens or horses unreasonable words?

[Northernlassie27]

My son has moved to uni from the NW to the NE. He told his housemates he's after a maiden as he doesn't have one. They were perplexed then once he had explained told him he should be looking for a horse instead.
Is it unreasonable to use such words nowadays or is it now outdated?

Clothes airer type thing?
Depends where you live/what your parents called them.

You know neither are unreasonable words. Just regional differences.

Your DS is not being unreasonable. It's still a maiden in my house (NW).

I'm in Scotland and would say clothes horse
If searching to buy one you'd use clothes airer

Why didn't you put clothes in front of the words?
I only knew what you were talking about because of the reply after

I've never heard it called a maiden.

Neither are unreasonable words. I call it a clothes airer if that complicates things a bit more.

It's clothes horse in our house

Meant to say I've never heard it called a clothes maiden before

I've heard Maiden before never horse. I'm in Cornwall

I call it a maiden (NW)

I thought he meant gf. When they said horse l thought crikey just someone to ride, bit cold hearted

Oh in terms of a clothes horse yeah but I'd always but clothes in front to validate it

I use Maiden (but am from NW)

Maiden. NW

Airer here . If I said maiden or horse nobody I know would have a clue.

I call it an airer. Never heard of a maiden.

@LadyTiredWinterBottom2

I thought he meant gf. When they said horse l thought crikey just someone to ride, bit cold hearted

That’s what I thought too! But then unless the OP’s son has come from the 18th Century, it didn’t really make sense.

I know what both mean and I live in the south east and was brought up in the south west. We call ours a laundry rack.

Winter dyke

Probably a good thing a Scot didn't declare a need for a winter dyke...

My late DM was from the NW and used the term 'airer'. I think she'd have found 'maiden' a bit dated and sexist tbh.

Xpost

People here would think he was after a "fair maiden" and set him straight but I really don't think anyone's told him he can't use his regional expression, have they?

I'm NW but live in Yorkshire, they wouldn't know what a maiden was round here... I have to say clothes dryer

I thought he wanted a girlfriend and then his friends were talking about racehorses - I think young female racehorses are maidens ?

A clothes horse is just an airer where I’m from in Bedfordshire