Betty by Gary Delainey and Gerry Rasmussen for September 12, 2020

Like the clear plastic covers for the sofa so it would always look new.

The really funny thing about that it was called the “living room” even though it was nothing like that. Historically it came from a “parlor” or “salon” – a room specifically for meetings and being in company without opening the rest of the house to visitors.

I lived in 3 different houses while growing up. The first two were nice, normal houses, but the third had a “formal livingroom” and NO ONE used it with the exception of my wedding day. :P

When I was a kid a family down the block had one of those, even had a barrier across the entry. My family used every square inch of the house, including the area under the basement stairs (canned goods).

A sitting room / living room / parlor reserved solely for entertaining guests? I don’t think I’ve ever even been in a house like that. Even a guest bedroom was beyond the means of pretty much everyone I’ve ever known, until one or more children grew up and moved out.

Our extra bedroom was a “Sewing Room”. There was a sewing machine in there, but basically, it was storage… ☺

Are you sure your parents weren’t from the Middle East. That’s how it was for me growing up in Iran. In the homes there was usually a room Called the guest quarters (and it wasn’t for sleeping) it was the one room in the house with the nicest furniture that when company came, they had to be catered to and waited on. Guests are considered blessing in middle east so they have to be treated with respect

in the U.S. I suspect we use every inch of our houses but only actually live in a small portion of it.

I used to have to vacuum that room every week even though nobody had been in it since I last vacuumed it!

Never mind, just stay out of that room!

my mother called that room ‘the living room’…’cause if we wanted to stay alive we had better stay out of that room…..

We didn’t have such a room, but my mother did have soaps, towels, candles, dishes, silverware, glassware, candy dishes, and a dining table that were only for company. God forbid any of us kids actually used any of it.

We had a “company” living room, and after dinner my parents would sit there and read while the kids watched TV in the “rec room”. It was a big thing to get to sit and read with the adults.

I hear what you’re all saying. We hardly ever used the guest quarters next to the heliport. It was often too noisy to hear the home theater anyway. We preferred the upstairs balcony with its library nooks, even though cooks kitchen was on the other side of the house, slowing the service somewhat. No complaints, everything’s a trade-off.

I remember that stupid room we were not allowed in.