Master bedroom

[Blackcatsalwaysrock]

I am very pleased with myself - Ive just corrected a valuer (putting house on the market so need valuations) who, walking into our bedroom said “ah, master bedroom”. No, it isn’t, I said ,it’s the principal bedroom!!! I’m surprised this language is still used!

Really? Its a term that everyone understands. Are you going to demand the renaming of computer programming next?

Better to save your corrections for when someone is wrong.

I imagine he thinks you are a bit silly.

Guarantee the valuer is currently back at the office laughing about this with their colleagues

Tell us, OP, why you are surprised this language is still used.

So what do you do when you get really good at something? Would you not say you‘ve mastered riding a bike?

I don't really see the term master bedroom as a micro aggression.

That's already happening. GitHub is changing 'master' to 'main'. The microsoft style guide says not to use master/slave and suggests alternatives.
learn.microsoft.com/en-us/style-guide/a-z-word-list-term-collections/m/master-slave

Although of course these types of things may be criticised as token gestures, there's no good reason to keep using a potentially racist or sexist term if there is another perfectly comprehensible alternative.

That's fine imo - my DD is a Master of Engineering.

But why on earth does the concept of 'master' seem a better choice to anyone for the biggest bedroom than 'principle' or 'main'?

I’d say the biggest bedroom. It peeves me a bit that words for men seem to keep their value, like master (the person in charge) compared with mistress (a married man’s amusement). ‘The mistress bedroom’ would sound sleazy!

I'm fine with master bedroom. Although if I were using an alternative, I would say 'main bedroom'.

You can't possibly tell a valuer to use "principal bedroom". If it takes off, the estate agency profession will slide into using "principle bedroom" within five years.

Please simply use "main bedroom" or biggest bedroom instead.

I have to ask if the master bedroom is now the principle bedroom what's the box room now called and it's there a proper estate agent name for the spare room?

My autocorrect is already there!

Boiledbeetle

Your autocorrect is ensouled with the spirit of an estate agent, who was sentenced to imprisonment for mislabelling a two bedroom flat as a three-bed after he realised the airing cupboard was large enough to contain a flat-screen TV.

Tom Holt probably wrote a book about this.

what's the box room now called

Bedroom 4: compact yet deceptively spacious double bedroom. Or "upstairs study" or "office".

😁
You've reminded me

The sales bumf for my house described the master bedroom as having a walk in wardrobe. It's actually a cupboard with the water immersion tank and two overflow tanks that had a clothes rail badly installed at a height that you could only walk into the cupboard if you are under 5foot tall.

Walk in wardrobe my arse!

Principal bedroom is in common usage in the US, master is thought to have raciest origins.

EAs love to use American terms, when did you last see a flat advertised rather than an apartment?

Please simply use "main bedroom" or biggest bedroom instead.

Unfortunately, I think people would assume that you'd used one of those terms as a way of communicating that it's not 'worthy' of being called a 'master bedroom' - to manage people's expectations, i.e. 'well it's nothing special, but I suppose it is technically the biggest'.

Principal would convey the same as master, imho.

What are we thinking about 'bridal suites' in hotels? Are they totally sexist and anachronistic too?!

what's the box room now called?

"Compact and bijou, Mostyn; compact and bijou!"

YANBU. I have seen this mentioned on FB - the preferred term now is main bedroom. Old masters (for painters) isn't used any more either but I can't remember what has replaced it.

I was once shown a new-build "three-bedroom house" in which the owners were using the third bedroom as a walk-in wardrobe, both because it was far too small for anything else and because the second bedroom was too small to fit an ordinary wardrobe.

Speaking as someone who used to build new homes....don't buy one!

Or if you do check to see which direction the wall paper goes in the show home and check to see of the furniture in the bedrooms is actually proper size and not miraculously made to a smaller size to make the room look bigger.

@Boiledbeetle
Or if you do check to see which direction the wall paper goes in the show home and check to see of the furniture in the bedrooms is actually proper size and not miraculously made to a smaller size to make the room look bigger.
Is this true? I first heard it in I think the 80s but assumed it was an urban myth.

Given the blatant chicanery that goes on, I would not be surprised...