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According to a dictionary, "household" means: > those who dwell under the same roof and compose a family; also: a social unit composed of those living together
by gnicholas 4y ago
According to a dictionary, "household" means:
> those who dwell under the same roof and compose a family; also: a social unit composed of those living together in the same dwelling [1]
It seems more focused on the family unit rather than where they're located. If a household goes on vacation, are they not still a household when they are at their hotel? Why is it different if they're at a condo, which they own?
Disclosure: not that it matters, but I do not have a second home.
1: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/household https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/household
- taeric 4y agoI'm curious how you read that and don't see the words "roof" and "same dwelling"? Because... that seems far more focused on where they are located than not? Only thing it is excluding is multiple family units all living in a shared building are not one household.
- ChoGGi 4y agoI will be curious to see what happens to families living in RVs.
- taeric 4y agoApologies for missing this. I'm not clear what you mean. They already have the worst services of any "household" you can imagine. Such that I don't see it changing much?
- gnicholas 4y agoOh, I absolutely see that limitation. But as I mentioned in my example, a "household" does not cease to exist when it leaves that shared roof. The group is defined based on where they live, regardless of whether they are together at any given moment, or if they are under a different roof together (and whether that different roof is part of a hotel, condo, or vacation home).
- taeric 4y agoIt totally ceases when you leave the shared roof. Is why me and my siblings shared a household with our parents, but don't share one now that we have moved out.
- doubleg72 4y agoI can't believe you actually had to explain this to someone on HN
- gnicholas 4y agoOP referred to an intact family unit that has multiple homes. They are still a household because, unlike your example, the are still intact. It's obvious that once you move out permanently, you're not part of the household anymore. But the original examples, and all of mine, refer to temporary relocations of an intact family unit.
- taeric 4y agoI am sympathetic, but to pretend a household is multiple houses feels forced, to say the least. Would be like claiming you have multiple primary houses. Can make a sense, in very narrow cases. Largely not what anyone thinks that term means. To claim otherwise seems bad faith.
- gnicholas 4y ago> pretend a household is multiple houses To me this reads as a category error. Households are made up of people, and houses are made of wood. But if you want to pay more to Netflix when you visit a friend's cabin, or your own, I won't get in your way!
- taeric 4y agoAnd to me this reads as petulant redefining of terms in the hopes of pulling a gotcha. To be clear, the portability afforded with streaming services is nice. And I'm all for taking advantage of it. But household has always been the combination of a physical house and a social group in it. To claim otherwise is silly. Can you find other uses of the term that does this? Even "family" is typically constrained to immediate family. Such that nobody expects family benefits at a job to extend to their cousins. Heck, we don't even expect it to extend to siblings or parents.