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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be annoyed my mum says I’m a snob for this

330 replies

BrendaBubbles · 05/10/2021 19:28

It’s relevant to note that I am from a working class background and last year I moved into a flat in an actually “naice” area of the northern town I grew up in. The number of the flat has “A” after it because it was originally the upstairs of a single Edwardian townhouse and the ground floor has the number only.. for example I have 69A and downstairs they have 69.

I thought having the A just looked a bit rubbish and a friend suggested that I could instead give the flat a name and register it with the post office and so on to use it officially. So I went through this rigmarole and my flat is now called something along the lines of Brenda Tower then the road name etc (not exactly that name due to privacy!)

I thought it was quite a fun thing to do but when I told my DM she went berserk and said she was disappointed because she hadn’t brought me up to be so snobby about something like an address and that moving to this part of town has made me into a worse person. I thought she was joking at first but she is really holding me in contempt for it and makes annoying references to how “posh” and “too good” I am at family gatherings and things. Other than having a nice flat in a nice area and giving it my own name, Am I actually being unreasonable?? Lots of people with cottages and things have house names so why can’t my flat?

OP posts:
Yesitsbess · 05/10/2021 20:55

@Anonymouslyposting

Oh, and towers for a flat? How many turrets do you have???
I hope OP is applying for planning permission for a turret with arrowslits and a flagpole for her own personal coat of arms.

Go hard or go home.

DerAlteMann · 05/10/2021 20:55

The only thing worse than a snob is an inverted snob and I am sorry OP but your DM is one. She's being ridiculous.

FrankieDobie · 05/10/2021 20:56

God I couldn’t be arsed to faff around like that for a flat, I’d take the piss if you were my mate and suggest you get a hobby

IWannaKebab · 05/10/2021 20:57

My sister named her last house.

They named it something like Elm Lodge House. There are no elm trees though, and it isn’t a lodge.

Hardbackwriter · 05/10/2021 20:57

Whole buildings in a street of numbers is just as naff. Except some people seem to think if a house costs a lot that makes it not naff. They are wrong.

I agree that it's just as naff if it's a big house, but it's not quite as impractical. If you have a huge house with a load of laurels at the front people will probably find 'The Laurels', though not as quickly as if it were just 'no. 8'. People will really, really struggle to find 'Brenda Towers' - flats don't have names so they won't be looking for a flat.

ShrikeAttack · 05/10/2021 20:57

It's clearly a joke!!

@Blackberrycream, was that the garden sofas one? That was hilarious, people falling over themselves to denounce garden furniture.

unfortunateevents · 05/10/2021 20:58

Come on now, you haven't really renamed your flat from a number to Something Towers? Please please say you are joking?

FWBNC · 05/10/2021 20:58

It's an odd thing your mother is accusing you of. It's not at all snobby. You could buy her a dictionary for Christmas!🤣

In the scheme of things it's harmless and if you're happy then 💁🏻‍♀️

But personally I think it's completely bonkers naming a flat!

Also naming any ordinary house is ridiculous. Especially in a town.

A cottage, in a village, where postmen, delivery people etc know the houses, fair enough, but a flat, just no.

Strawbsaturno · 05/10/2021 20:58

Lol yes I think it’s a bit pretentious but I think this is more tongue in cheek as it’s the OP’s name. Now if they’d named the flat ‘fair view towers’ rather than ‘Brenda towers’ that would be properly pretentious.
I’m in a town in the NW I’m going to be in the look out for this sign now Grin

WhiskyXray · 05/10/2021 21:01

I remember when my mother took it into her head to name her bungalow La Petite Maison Bleue et Blanche. She had a sign painted and everything.

My sisters and I staged an intervention.

Looking back, I think it was the menopause.

NancyDrawed · 05/10/2021 21:01

@IWannaKebab

My sister named her last house.

They named it something like Elm Lodge House. There are no elm trees though, and it isn’t a lodge.

I assumed that a house on a main road in a small Staffordshire town named 'Ocean View' was meant to be ironic (or perhaps the owners had told overseas relatives who were unfamiliar with Google Maps that the very landlocked town was by the ocean)

Once they'd moved, the new occupants changed it back to a number.

SprayedWithDettol · 05/10/2021 21:01

I don’t get the naming of houses if you don’t have to. My address is ‘house name’ ‘village name’ ‘county’ ‘postcode’.

It’s fucking annoying as our post code is a big area and getting deliveries can be challenging. I would love to have a number (including an A ) and a road name.

BlueMongoose · 05/10/2021 21:01

Looking at it from a practical perspective, we use the number here, rather than the previous name, as it makes it easier to find. The name wasn't on the house anyway, only the number. It has had two names over the years, and some utilities, even the council, still use one or other of them.
Friends once had a house with a name- it had always had just a name. Utilities gave it and the other named houses round it numbers. The problem with that was that the utilities used different systems for numbering. So when someone came looking for 'number x' they had to ask 'are you gas, electric, or water? Grin

EwwSprouts · 05/10/2021 21:02

There's nothing posh about naming your property; it's incredibly nouveau riche is crass generalisation. We live in a house with a number. Our previous home had a name. The whole street did because the bulk of the houses date from the 18th century.

Briony123 · 05/10/2021 21:03

Old houses have names is fine. Modern houses having names is the ultimate in naff.

KhalliWhalli · 05/10/2021 21:03

Oh, I think it’s brilliant 😁 !

julieca · 05/10/2021 21:04

No old and new houses it is the same. Total snobbery to say age makes a difference.

FOJN · 05/10/2021 21:08

SprayedWithDettol

Have you tried "what three words"? Apparently the whole world has been divided into a a 3 meter square grid, each square has a unique 3 word reference. You can download an app to find your "what three words" reference. I'd take the reference from the curb as a delivery driver will find it harder to locate you if you use the "what three words" for your lounge!

PatsyJStone · 05/10/2021 21:09

Well I’m in your team, don’t like the A method used when adding a house on a plot of land or splitting a property. If you can do it then it’s no one else’s problem really.

Surprised though that you will seem to have a problem getting an ambulance 😉 just try and stay safe in Brenda Towers!

CrystalBuddha · 05/10/2021 21:10

I don't think it's unreasonable at all. I grew up at the other side of town - not a really bad area - but now live in a very nice part of town. The house I live in, the previous owner named it and the first part is actually my real name - so eg crystalhouse - I think it's quite funny, but I'm sure some people will think I did this, and even if I did, so what.
You do you x

LynetteScavo · 05/10/2021 21:10

I grew up in a Victorian terraced house, and all the houses had names, but they also all had numbers. Only one house used its name, and it was massive and a different style, so maybe it was built later and didn't want to be a A? The big house over the road from me is an A, because it was built in someone's garden.

Personally I would have stuck with a number, but your Mum's reaction is OTT.

Bombaloorina · 05/10/2021 21:11

@WhiskyXray

I remember when my mother took it into her head to name her bungalow La Petite Maison Bleue et Blanche. She had a sign painted and everything.

My sisters and I staged an intervention.

Looking back, I think it was the menopause.

😂
loubieloo4 · 05/10/2021 21:12

It's a pain in the arse for emergency services/community nurses to find.

JuneOsborne · 05/10/2021 21:14

I love that you have done this.

I do not think it's snobby, I think it's funny!

Mummyoflittledragon · 05/10/2021 21:14

The houses on my road have numbers and a lot have names as well. Some houses use only names and I regularly see delivery drivers struggling and these are large houses on a short road. The adjacent couple of roads do not use numbers. Idk if the numbers exist. However, whenever they need an ambulance, someone has to wait outside to flag it down.

You otoh live in a built up area with 3 storey flats. You are being absolutely stupid. I hope you never need an ambulance or the police urgently. Or takeaways or deliveries etc. Bonkers. Unbelievably odd not to use 69A and the name if you so wish to have a name.