I was shown into a room. A red room. Red wallpaper, red curtains, red carpet. They said it was a sitting-room, but I don’t know why they’d decided to confine its purpose just to sitting. Obviously, sitting was one of the things you could do in a room this size; but you could also stage operas, hold cycling races, and have an absolutely cracking game of frisbee, all at the same time, without having to move any of the furniture.
It could rain in a room this big.
from The Gun Seller by Hugh Laurie
A Room by Any Other Name
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would smell as sweet (if kept properly aired). Or would it? Does it make a difference to your feelings about the main room in your house if you call it the sitting-room instead of the lounge? The drawing-room (or even withdrawing-room) instead of living-room? Would you perhaps converse more if it was called a parlour?
What do you call that room – and have you ever wanted to call it something else?