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This is Jack Fromm to Fluency. Now, today's English episode, English lesson is all about houses, houses.
Now, Before you think maybe this is a little bit of a boring topic, or maybe you're not really interested in this topic, Give it a go, which means try this episode because it's really fun. you're going to get lots of great phrases to learn English and also we're going to look at the difference between houses in the UK and houses in the USA. and starting with this fact.
Okay, are you ready for this? The average house size in the UK is around 76 square metres.
Now in the US you're going to hear square feet and this is around 800 square feet.
The average house size in the USA is 201 square meters over 2,000 square feet.
So, houses in the US are over two times the size as houses in the UK.
And this is something I noticed when I first came to the USA.
It was the size of the houses and also the way that the houses are built and where they are built, which is something we're going to talk about later.
Now, you might be thinking, why are houses in the USA so much bigger than houses in the UK?
Well, in the UK, in England, in Scotland, etc., land is limited.
Land is limited. So this means that there isn't as much land available.
And you think about the size of the UK versus the size of the USA. you'll realize just how big of a difference this is.
Additionally, the UK has a lot of older houses. because many were built before modern space expectations when people wanted larger houses.
And if you think about the industrial revolution in the UK, there were a lot of terraced houses built near factories. meaning that they were very small and a big row of houses all together.
So these are called terraced houses. Now in the US, this is a country with more land, so building bigger houses is easier.
Additionally, Americans often prefer open plan layouts with large living spaces.
So an open plan layout is where the kitchen, the living room and usually as well the dining room are all open without walls in between them.
So if someone's in the kitchen, you can see them from the living room.
Whereas in the UK, it's more common to have separate rooms for the kitchen, for the dining room and for the living room.
Also, in the USA, a lot of homes come with basements.
Now, these are the areas underneath the main living area.
In the UK, it's rare from my experience, except for in a few terraced houses to have a basement where you can spend time in it. instead of just a basement for storage.
Whereas in the USA, They like to build a basement to have an extra bedroom, storage rooms, even bathrooms and sometimes family rooms too.
So we can compare the houses and say houses in the UK feel a bit cramped compared to the US, okay?
Sometimes they feel a bit cramped. Now this might be a new word for you and know that I'm going to leave all the words and phrases in the description. but cramped means small and lacking space and it feels like you don't have enough space to move around in this area.
Another difference with this is with houses in the USA, many of these homes have walk-in closets.
Walk-in closets. where you can walk into the closet and see all of your clothes everywhere.
It's not in every house, but it is more common in newer houses now. and also closets are built into the walls ready for you.
Whereas in the UK, People have small or big, sometimes wardrobes.
They don't have closets, they have wardrobes. which is a piece of furniture to store all of your clothes.
According to my research, the smallest home in the uk is in wales and it's only 1.8 meters wide so it's tiny whereas the largest home in the USA is the Biltmore estate And I've been to this Biltmore estate many times and it has 250 rooms.
Now, it was built by the Vanderbilt's. back in the 1880s or 1890s and they got a lot of money from the railroad boom in the USA.
And they built this massive mansion in North Carolina And they based it on a French chateau.
It's very impressive. Now there are some differences when you are renting and buying homes in the UK and the US.
Now in the UK... Many landlords, now a landlord is a person who owns a house and then rents that house.
So many landlords furnish their properties.
It comes furnished. It comes furnished. And this means to provide furniture.
So they will provide all the beds. everything that you need, TVs sometimes, sofas, dining room tables, etc.
So it comes furnished. Whereas in the USA, apartments and homes are usually unfurnished.
So the tenants need to buy furniture. You need to buy everything you need for that house.
And when you move house, you need to take all of your things with you.
So you can rent a truck and do it yourself. or a lot of people prefer to hire movers to hire movers And the movers are people who come to your house, they take out all the furniture for you, they put it into the truck, and then they take it to the new house and put it in the right place for you.
Now this can be expensive, but many people think it is worth it because moving house can be terrible sometimes.
Now here are some phrases that you can use when it comes to renting a home.
You can say something like, I'm looking for a one bedroom flat near the city centre.
Or in the US, I'm searching for an apartment with a balcony in New York City.
Now here's a question for you. Do you prefer renting a place that is furnished or unfurnished?
So would you prefer to rent a place that has furniture ready for you or would you prefer to take your own furniture?
Let's now talk about home design and functionality.
This is a fun section. because it's gonna talk about the key differences between the design of UK and US homes.
Now, one of the biggest differences that I believe is true is that UK homes have radiators.
Okay. They have radiators and And this is a thing on the wall where hot water goes through and it warms up the house that way.
Whereas we don't tend to see air conditioning in UK homes, mainly because the summers are so cool. compared to other places in Europe and a lot of places around the world.
The temperatures don't get that much higher than 20 degrees on average in summer.
So air conditioning is not necessary in the UK, whereas radiators are.
So everything is built around warming the house, not cooling the house.
US homes rarely have radiators. It's very rare to see a radiator in a US home.
Instead, what you're going to see more often than not is air.
So it's called forced air. and this is where there is a heater and also an air conditioning unit and it blows warmer, and it also blows out colder.
So from the thermostat on the wall, you can say what you want the mode to be.
It could be heat or it could be cool. There are other options too, like just a fan, just to blow regular temperature air through.
But generally speaking, you can warm your house with this and you can cool your house with one thermostat.
Now the materials made to build the house are really different too.
In the UK you're going to see a lot of brick and concrete block houses.
And in the US, the biggest material used is wood.
So they build wood frames and then they have exterior, usually wood panels, wood siding. on the outside so that's a big difference you're going to see in terms of the building materials now also you're going to see a difference in the shape of the house Like we talked about before, the size of US houses is much bigger than the size of UK houses.
And you're also going to see a lot of more standalone houses. in the uk we call them detached where there's one family house with space around that house Whereas in the UK, you're going to see a lot more of the terraced houses like we talked about before and also semi-detached houses. where there are two houses together and they share a wall in the middle, and then they are separate in terms of who lives in which house. but they are joined together with one roof and one structure.
Additionally, in the UK you're going to see a lot more people live closer to the city centre. where the city center is the center of everything and people live close to there And it obviously differs by city.
So London is its own thing. And then big cities like Manchester have a lot of apartment buildings in the center of the city.
And then as you move away from the city, it becomes more countryside.
Whereas in the US, A lot of living is about the suburbs, the suburbs.
Now, if you've watched American films or TV shows, I'm sure you've heard this term before, the suburbs.
And this is away from the center, usually in a development where a lot of people are part of a HOA.
This is a home owners association and it manages the community of properties and residents. and there are usually some rules for this and you have to pay money because you pay money to have things done around that community.
But with this, a massive difference as well is that in the US, you're not going to see in most cities or a lot of cities that I've been to, sidewalks where you want sidewalks to be. pavements in British English.
So a lot of people can't walk from the suburbs to a coffee shop.
They can't walk to different places. Now that's not always the case because some neighborhoods in certain cities are built for walking too but a lot of emphasis was put on the car in the USA where again instead of going downtown to go to the shops you go to strip malls There are bars that you can only drive to, restaurants that you can only drive to.
You can't walk to these restaurants. which is very different from a lot of the culture in the UK and especially other parts of Europe.
Now going back inside the houses, The bathrooms are often quite different too, because the US bathrooms are usually a lot bigger than the British bathrooms.
And also a lot of older houses only have one bathroom for the whole family.
Whereas an en suite room in the US is very common where the master bedroom has a bathroom attached to it.
And that's just for the parents or the person, the adults in the house. to use.
Another big difference is that in the UK from when I was growing up.
It might have changed a little bit now, but most people didn't have a dryer.
So they had a washing machine which is usually smaller than the American washing machine, but they don't have a dryer.
So they had to hang up their washing outside. which is quite funny because in the UK it rains a lot, so it's difficult to get this done.
You could also put your clothes on the radiators.
I remember doing this if I needed my school pants to be dry quickly.
Whereas in the US there are specific laundry rooms or laundry closets that have a washer and a dryer and storage to put all of your washing materials.
So a lot of people, well, nearly everyone in the US has a washer and a dryer.
Ceiling heights are usually bigger in the US too, especially in homes built in the last 30, 40, even 50 years. where the ceiling height, especially in the living room and the main rooms, is really high up there.
Whereas in the UK due to the old style of housing ceiling heights tend to be a lot smaller.
Now going outside, people in the UK will say garden, whereas Americans will say yard, yard. and many British homes have small gardens but People really take care of their gardens.
The grass is always looking good. It's always green.
There are usually no weeds in houses. Whereas in the US, in a lot of areas, things grow really quickly and weeds are a big problem here.
So gardens aren't as nice, in my opinion, as they are in the UK.
But usually there is a larger backyard. Now, have you been in houses in the UK and in the United States?
And if so, share your experiences about the difference between the houses in both countries.
Now, it's important to know as well that the experience of going to a suburb in Atlanta is different to an apartment in downtown Manhattan, New York City.
There are lots of differences there. But in general, if you think about the difference between the suburbs and neighborhoods in America, And the ones in the UK, there are lots of differences.
Let's now look at some quotes about houses before talking about some idioms which are really useful. really useful in terms of being able to speak English well and understand English because these are used a lot.
Now, the first quote about houses and homes is this.
Home is where the heart is. Home is where the heart is.
Now this is from Pliny the Elder. So we're going back a long time.
But the idea behind this quote, home is where the heart is, is meaning that it's not just a place.
So a home is not just a place. It's about the people and the feelings inside it.
And you can feel at home. even if you move to a different country or city.
Now the second quote is from the Wizard of Oz.
And it's this, there's no place like home.
There's no place like home. And this means that no matter where you travel, Home is the most comfortable and familiar place.
So Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz was missing home and saying there is no place place like home.
And this phrase is often used when people return home after a long trip.
And if you've watched the movie, you'll know that Dorothy says this while clicking her red shoes together.
And what's interesting is that this movie is from 1939.
So a long, long time ago. Now, the first idiom we're going to discuss before talking about some phrases you can learn is a roof over your head. a roof over your head, meaning that this is a place to live, to have a place to live.
And people often use this when they want to feel gratitude for having a house.
So you might hear someone say, even though this apartment is tiny, at least I have a roof over my head.
And we should be grateful we have food, a warm bed and a roof over our heads.
The next one is to feel at home. To feel at home.
Now, this means to feel comfortable and relaxed even in a new place.
So you might say, for example, when you move into a new neighborhood, our new neighbors are so friendly.
They made us feel at home right away. They made us feel at home right away.
And after just a few weeks in Spain, I started to feel at home.
I started to feel at home. So this means that you feel comfortable and relaxed even in a new place.
Now something similar to this is make yourself at home.
Make yourself at home. And this is a polite way to tell guests to relax and feel comfortable in your house.
So instead of them saying, oh, can I go to the bathroom?
Or where's your bathroom? Or Can I get a drink of water?
You say, make yourself at home. Get anything you want.
Just do what you want here within reason.
Now obviously if someone says this to you, don't take it too far.
But the idea here is to feel relaxed and comfortable.
Now, the last phrase is the walls have ears.
The walls have ears. which is really interesting because this phrase originated from castles.
And a lot of the castles in medieval times had hidden listing holes. so people could hear secret conversations.
So that's where this comes from. The walls have ears.
And it basically means when someone says this, be careful what you say because someone might be listening.
You might also say something like, we shouldn't gossip too much at the office.
The walls have ears. In case you're thinking someone might be listening to our conversations.
But I love the fact that it comes from the medieval times when people used to listen through holes in castle walls.
Now, we're going to end on some key housing vocabulary differences between the UK and the USA.
Now, just stay for this part because we're going to go through it quickly.
Now, we talked about before apartments. I always say apartment, but in the UK you're going to hear flat, flat.
Now in the US you might also hear the word condo.
And I'm just going to double check the meaning of this.
I think it's when a condo is an apartment that you own.
Yes, it's true. Condos are individually owned, while apartments are rented, typically from a landlord or property management. company so if someone says i live in a condo it means that they own this apartment If someone says I live in an apartment, they're probably meaning that they rent this apartment.
We also heard garden versus yard. Now, it's not common to have one of these in a house, but it is in apartments. and it's this, elevator or elevator and lift.
So you can take a lift in the UK, you take the elevator in the USA.
And another difference with this is that the ground floor in the UK is the one on the bottom.
And in the US, you're going to hear first floor.
This is the first floor. If you're buying a house, you're going to use an estate agent in the UK. and a realtor in the USA.
If you're going to rent, you'll maybe use a rental agency in the USA. whereas you'll use a Latin agency in the UK.
And before we talked about a semi-detached house where there is one main building, but two houses within this building.
In the UK, it's semi-detached. In the USA, it's a duplex, duplex.
Now, the British pronunciation of this would be duplex, duplex, but in the USA it's duplex, duplex.
What to do now is to check out the phrases in the description and then also watch or listen to another episode.
So if you're on Spotify or Apple, just go to the podcast and find an episode that appeals to you.
If you're on YouTube, There will be a video on your screen or you can go to the description as well.
Thank you for being here and I'll speak to you soon.
Bye for now.
