Re: an announcement...

At 10:46 AM 9/27/99 -0700, you wrote:
>dennis@himes.connix.com writes:
>> Keep in mind that that's British English.  Most Americans would have no
>>idea what you mean by "flatmate", as "flat" is never used in that sense
>>over
>>here.  Your original term, "housemate", would work fine, although I would
>>lose the hyphen.
>
>
>Americans who haven't heard British English would say "flat mate? why
>would your mate be flat?". The only useage I have heard for a housemate is
>roomate, even though they don't share rooms :). I like 'housemate'
>personally.
>
On the other hand, what if you're not sharing wither a room or a house? In
Berkeley in my long-ago college days, the houses are all split into units,
sometimes by floor, so that you are sharing not an apartment but a portion
of a house. Most people used the word roommate for that situation as well.
I tried borrowing the word 'flatmate', but my friends and companions
weren't game.

Sylvia

visi, veneri, vamoosi
I visited, I caught an embarrassing disease, I ran away.
                                  (from Terry Pratchett's _Jingo_)