Living at home

[redskyAtNigh]

Am I the only one who really detests the phrase "living at home" when used to mean "living in your childhood home when you are an adult"?

Virtually everyone lives at home (homeless and sofa surfers excepted). If you are an adult who lives in a permanent residence that is not with your parents, you also "live at home". A home is, pretty much by definition, the place where you live.

I used to be asked if I was going home for Christmas. By which was meant, was I going to my parents’ house

My dad and his brother always called going to visit their old mum “going round home” although they’d never lived in that particular home x

I still “go home” to my parents’ house Wales after 30 years of living in England. It’s not even the house I grew up in.

That question doesn't make any sense unless you've actually moved away in the first place. If you still live reasonably close to your parents so you can see them throughout the year, it's not 'going home' when you see them at Christmas, it's just visiting, like you do at other times.

I had no idea what they were asking the first time someone asked me that.

I have always understood this mean visiting your parents with an assumption that your parents still live in the locale (or house) that you grew up in. But obviously that doesn’t apply to everyone.

I think it's well recognised shorthand for remaining in or returning to the mothership, so I have no problem with it.

I don't mind this at all and find it quite an interesting insight into people's psyches. IME there's a point at which people switch from referring to their parents' home as "home"- tends to be late 20s or when they have their own children.

This.