26 Apr

christen a house

who taught: Kelly and Phil

Terry’s house

Today’s expression is one of the expressions I have never heard of in my entire life. Also, I am kind of reluctant to write about but, for the purpose of this blog, which is keeping track of all of the expressions I learned and also share with you, I will do my best to write about it. I will let you know why I am a little reluctant later.

A few weeks ago, Phil and Kelly came to my new house to give me their opinions about any possible improvements that I need to work on. (They have been home owners for a while.) A good news is that they think our house does not need many improvement work. Yay! Oh, here is what I also heard from Phil. So, whenever you invite your friends to your house for the first time, then you ought to give them a short tour to your place, explaining things in your house. Well, my house does not have anything fancy or special. But, since Phil and Kelly were visiting my house for the first time, I gave them a brief tour.

As we all walked up to the second floor where there are three rooms, Kelly said, “Hey! So, have you guys ever christened the house yet?”

Jessy and I did not understand it at all. We said, “What? What does it mean?”

Before we get to what Kelly meant, let me give you a very simple definition of the word, christen.

When a baby is christenedhe or she is given a name during the Christian ceremony of baptism.

Also, there is another meaning of the expression which is “To use something for the first time.” I believe Kelly’s usage is more originated from this second definition. Now, let me rephrase Kelly’s question in connection with the second definition.

Hey! So, have you guys ever used the house for the first time yet?

Here comes my favorite question! Can you feel it? or Can you understand what Kelly meant? I guess not! The key thing you need to think here is the deep implication of the word, use.

Now, remember that Kelly asked this question as she was seeing the rooms! What do you usually do in rooms? Let me guess. You sleep, right? Let me go a little deeper. Do you really just sleep in rooms with your wife or girl friend? (If you are a lady… Do you really want to just sleep in rooms with your husband or boy friend?) I guess not. What else do you do? Haha.. that is right. You would make love. No No No, You WILL make love. So, here is the equation I can tell you for this expression.

Making love in a room for the first time = Use a room for the first time = Christen (As a result, christen equals to making love in a room or a house for the first time)

I am sure you now get what Kelly’s question meant.

Have we christened my house yet? No comment! How about you? Did you christen your house as soon as you bought your house? What? You did it on the same day you got the keys to the house. 🙂

So, why I do not really want to share and use this expression? I am a Christian. So, I probably would not use this expression. But.. Look! It is better to know these expressions to be able to understand what your friends are saying, right?

7 thoughts on “christen a house

  1. Just to clarify what I meant:

    then you ought to give them a short trip to your place, explaining things in your house

    First, people call this a “tour” not a trip. Second to clarify the etiquette…. some people think it’s rude or annoying when people insist on giving them a tour of their house. I find it very interesting, but it’s definitely boring for some people. But since we were there specifically to see your new house, a tour was the proper etiquette, but it’s up to you if you want to be one of those people “giving tours” 3 years from now.

    • Thanks, Phil! Just corrected “trip” to be tour.
      And that is good to know. I mean really good to know. That is really cultural thing. I really appreciate your help, telling me those. I would like to be one of these people who say, “let’s have some fun, grilling or hanging out in the porch.”

  2. Christening a ship generally involves breaking a bottle of champagne against its hull.

    I like the mental image of someone breaking such a bottle against a house, haha.

    • Funny Colin would say that–I found this site while Googling “christening a house” because I wanted to know if anyone else has ever broken a bottle of champagne against their new home. I ask because, LORD willing, I will soon become a first-time home buyer, and recently came into possession of an unopened bottle of champagne that I will never drink. That, and being a single Christian mom, living with my 22-yr old daughter, the conventional definition of “christening a house” as described above is NOT an option!

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