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Is it unreasonable to use such words nowadays or is it now outdated?

I also thought it was a weird way if saying he wanted a girlfriend.

I had forgotten, but it was a clothes horse when I was a child. Now just airer or clothes dryer. South West.

No one else call it a clothes dolly then?

I have NW heritage and for some reason think of the ceiling type versions. My Grandparents had one. No doubt worth a fair bit now.

It’s an airer everywhere I’ve lived! (South East, South East and East Mids).
I’ve heard of Clothes Horse too but Maiden is just weird-I mean I know what it is because I’ve seen it used, but I don’t get it

I think a maiden is the sort that pulls up to the ceiling while a horse folds out and stands on the floor

Well of course it's not unreasonable to use it. There are regional words. They are all part of the richness of the language. Use them or don't use them!

I'm.from East Anglia and it's a clothes horse here, although I tend to call it an fairer.

Son's girlfriend calls it a maiden, and doesn't preface it with "clothes".

My friend has one that comes down from the ceiling and calls it a "Sheila". No idea if she made that up though!

My mum used to say clothes horse. And i have heard them called maidens also.
I just say airer

@EmmaGrundyForPM

I'm.from East Anglia and it's a clothes horse here, although I tend to call it an fairer.

Son's girlfriend calls it a maiden, and doesn't preface it with "clothes".

My friend has one that comes down from the ceiling and calls it a "Sheila". No idea if she made that up though!

I think a Shiela maid is a brand of pulley airer

A maiden hangs from the ceiling and a horse is a floor standing airer.

DS needs to get his technical terms right or he may be arrested....!

We had a maiden, and a clothes horse, and a pulley. Now I have none of those.

I'm a northerner living in the south, they call them clothes Airers here

A maiden hangs from the ceiling and a horse is a floor standing airer.

Noooo the one on the ceiling is called a pulley or a Sheila

I’m from the south east, and I’ve always called it a clothes horse. Never heard of calling it a maiden, but wouldn’t think it was offensive particularly.

I always called it a clothes horse, then dp moved in and one day asked where the winter dyke was. I was like WTF 🤔! He only grew up in the next town over, but I had never heard that one before.

Clothes horse Midlands

Sorry, what on earth are you talking about?

We pronounce it tumble drier in my house

A maiden is what they call a racehorse yet to win its first race.

I thought he was looking for a girlfriend!! I call it an airer (SE England)

@thegcatsmother

I thought a maiden was one with pulleys that you pull up to near the ceiling?

Clothes horse sounds like one of the old fashioned wooden contraptions that my Gran had that stood in front of the gas fire to dry/air the clothes.

Clothes airer is what I call them.

Yes to me a Maiden is a rack on pulleys and a Horse is a wooden concertina contraption, or more like a wooden freestanding towel rail type thing that you drape your worn clothes on for the next day, I say airer.

Clothes horse was a southern expression, I heard maiden got the first time in university by people from Yorkshire, but I think they are sold as airers these days

I'm from somewhere between the NW and the NE and grew up calling it either a clothes maid (not maiden) or a clothes horse.

No idea what you're talking about from op. I'm from. NE

Londoner -
wooden zig zag expanding thing = clothes horse
plastic openy up thing = airer

never heard of maiden.

The only people being unreasonable here are those saying everyone should just call it an airer. Quirky regional variants give UK English it’s charm and interest. Let’s not homogenise it even faster than is already happening.

It was a clothes horse when I was growing up in Australia.