It's all the same...

So, I've decided that unless you actually live in a separate home, you can pretty much call where you live whatever you want.

Take for example, the word condo. What does this word bring to mind? Now, when I was growing up, this word always meant some exotic location where you stayed while on vacation. Like, if you went to Hawaii (not that I've ever been), or on a skiing trip. And they usually have funky roofs and look all hip. Kind of like a townhouse...but not a townhouse.

Then, when I got into college, I noticed that "condo's" were being sold and they looked like apartments. In my mind apartments were living quarters that were on one level and when you went to the next level, more apartments. So, I didn't understand why it was a "condo" and not an "apartment." I'm sure some of you will want to inform me that you can buy a condo and not an apartment, but...sorry, not true. You can buy either one. Maybe it makes people feel better to say that they live in a "condo" instead of, "I live in an apartment."

Townhouse always seemed to be a little more descriptive, but again, what's the difference between a townhouse and a condo? Some condo's are two or three levels like a townhouse, and have a separate entrance, all on ground level.

So, I thought it was kind of funny when they started building some new townhouses in our ward boundaries. The people living by the townhomes weren't too thrilled because it lowers their property value, but regardless, what made it even more interesting was when I was talking to them, asking them how they felt about the townhouses being built, and they made the comment..."Well, they're not even really townhouses, more like apartments..." Okay, HOLD THE PHONE! What does that mean?

Here I thought I had a pretty good idea of what a townhouse was, and there they are calling them apartments. That just totally defeated my definition of what an apartment is.

What I've basically decided though, is that unless you really do live in a townhouse, and even if you do, you could call it whatever you want...townhouse, apartment, condo, it essentially means the same thing...you do not live in a separate house, or, you share a wall with somebody, even if it's just the garage wall.

Probably why the census bureau just skips all that and if the entrances are all ground level separate units, they're listed as separate units, and if they aren't, they are "multi-units."

So, call it a condo or apartment, it's all the same to me. ;)