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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Lounge or living room?

260 replies

Sunshineonarainydayy · 02/02/2021 20:44

Do you think one is more posh to say than the other?
If so,
YABU living room is more posh
YANBU lounge is more posh

OP posts:
PattyPan · 02/02/2021 22:52

Oh, and front room is very non-U as well as it implies that you only have two rooms rather than a whole manor Wink

CSIblonde · 02/02/2021 22:54

Sitting room is posh. Lounge or living room are not.

Luckingfovely · 02/02/2021 22:56

We have a sitting room and a snug. Both have sofas in them.

The loo is always the loo - or the bathroom - I can't say the T word or the L word without wanting to throw up.

CocoPark · 02/02/2021 23:00

Lounge here 🙋🏼‍♀️ For the first time ever I feel common as muck!

partyatthepalace · 02/02/2021 23:12

Neither TBH

Living room is American, lounge means a sitting room in a public place eg a hotel or airport. In posh world drawing room is the proper term, or if you have a more casual room then sitting room is equally correct.

Chuckleknuckles · 02/02/2021 23:15

I say sitting room. No idea if it’s posh or otherwise.

Smallonesaremorejuicy · 02/02/2021 23:15

We call it the sitting room , husband’s family call theirs the drawing room , hence why we mainly go to my folks !!

TheWashingMachine · 02/02/2021 23:24

We have a morning room, the sun shines in there in the morning. Then a more formal drawing room. They are roughly the same size but the drawing room has a bigger fireplace. Although it sounds grand our house is a dive, with ancient wallpaper and knackered floorboards and plaster dropping off the walls.

WagnerTheWehrWolf · 02/02/2021 23:26

Both Mrs De Winters loved attending to their morning correspondence in the morning room. And look how that turned out for them.

Beware the morning room...

TheWashingMachine · 02/02/2021 23:29

Ha ha! I won't check my emails in there tomorrow

LaurieFairyCake · 02/02/2021 23:29

Yes. We have a Withdrawing room (room without tv)

The room with the tv is the Sitting Room

Janegrey333 · 02/02/2021 23:34

Colouring-in room.

1Morewineplease · 02/02/2021 23:34

In laws had a 'green room' and a 'pink room.'

SkedaddIe · 02/02/2021 23:35

I grew up saying sitting room but now we have 3 so they're the guest room (sofa bed and nice view), family room (with all the toys, craft stuff etc) and an evening room (no tv, faces south west and has a balcony so it only really gets used in the evening basically)

FraughtwithGin · 02/02/2021 23:45

Only hotels have lounges.
The continentals talk (in translation) about living rooms.
We had a sitting-room, growing up, but my granny had a drawing-room (and a sitting-room).
Oh and drawing, in this instance, does not refer to putting pencil to paper, but rather "withdrawing" from the dining-room after dinner, whilst the men drank port and smoked cigars.

Violinist64 · 02/02/2021 23:46

I have a lounge, dining room and conservatory. There is one other reception room - the music room. This is where l teach piano and upper strings and has two pianos and numerous other instruments. It also doubles as a library. Having reprieved myself from my lowly status of - gasp having a lounge by having a music room, l have yet one more confession of guilt. This extra room is, horror of horrors, a converted garage and very useful it is too. As the garage had already been converted, this was the very reason that this house stood out above all the others we viewed.

BadLad · 03/02/2021 00:10

@Bouledeneige

Sorry but posh people think the following in ascending poshness:

Lounge
Sitting room
Living room
Drawing room / parlour

Also in similar order:

Couch
Sofa

And
Toilet
Lavatory/Loo

My Ex MIL was quite posh and she had a parlour and a blue room.

Where does mancave fit into the first list?
thepeopleversuswork · 03/02/2021 00:13

Neither is remotely posh.

My mother (who was a raging snob) would have taken me outside and shot me against a wall for using the word lounge.

Living room I could just about have got away with if she was in a forgiving mood.

ofwarren · 03/02/2021 00:14

North west and we say front room, even if there is only one room 😁

WagnerTheWehrWolf · 03/02/2021 00:15

I feel like 'living room' is the modern term and its now popular usage is down to estate agent speak over the past 25 years. It's always a 'living room' on property websites.

5zeds · 03/02/2021 00:15

Lounge, Sitting room, Living room, Drawing room / parlour
No. Sitting room, and drawing room are posh
Lounge, living room, parlour aren’t.

newtb · 03/02/2021 00:19

I grew up in Cheshire with 1 parent from Coppull and the other from Bishop Wearmouth. We had a morning room and a sitting room (with a dining room between them).

loubieloo4 · 03/02/2021 00:33

My in laws always say, let's sit in the house! Confused me no end.

FinallyHere · 03/02/2021 00:41

Lounge on board ship

lottielimejuice · 03/02/2021 01:07

Now my parents were v working class and we had a traditional Victorian terrace with a separate dining area through to a kitchen. They called it the breakfast room. We also had a “tv room” and the “toy room”