man cave
Who taught: Jaejin
Man cave (source : http://3.bp.blogspot.com)
About a month ago, Jessy and I met new Korean friends who moved to Pittsburgh last winter at Ari’s party. They recently bought a house near to Ari’s place. Today, we bumped into them at Costco. Jessy and I were done with grocery shopping and they just got to Costco. So, we decided to meet at a coffee place after they are done with grocery shopping. About 2 hours later, we went to the 61C cafe and we started to talk about all of the interesting stories they have experienced by going through all of the processes related with buying a house in America. It is a quite story. Well, anyways, during the conversation, I asked them, “How many rooms and bathrooms does it have?” Jaejin told me, “It has 3 rooms and 2 and half bathrooms.” OK! Here is one thing I need to tell you. There is an expression in America, “half bathroom.” Half bathroom is a bathroom which has a sink and a toilet but no shower or bathtub. Full bathroom, of course, has everything in it.
“But one of the full bathrooms is in the basement,” said Jaejin. One of the interesting things in Pittsburgh is the bathroom in basement. Most of the houses built in pre World-War II have a bathroom in basement. The reason of it is because all of the steel workers in Pittsburgh cleaned them before they went upstairs to have dinner with family after work. In the neighborhood where I live, there are so many houses built in early 20th century. Thus, some of them are around 100 years old. So, it is not a surprise at all to find a bathroom in basement.
While we are speaking of basement, Jaejin told me, “I need to have a man cave in the house.” Do you know what it is? Well, I guess you can guess. It is the place guys hang out a lot, watching TV like football and playing video games or pool. It is in either basement or attic of a house. I think many of my friends have this kind of places in their houses. I would like to have one when I get to buy a house. I may build my own climbing place in my man cave. It sounds really fun to have a party in my man cave. Guys only! Hey, Jessy! Is this fine?
Well, do you guys also have a woman cave in your house? What kind of stuff is in that cave?
A large sink in the basement is indeed very common and is generally called a “slop sink”.
Often times a “Pittsburgh Toilet” refers to a toilet in the basement, often with no walls around it. These are put there because the house was built with only one bathroom and they needed a second toilet.
No walls! Man, that is … How could you handle smell?
If we can buy our own house, I don’t care no matter what you want to build inside it as long as it pleases you.
This one’s a keeper, Terry!
I think I can get the meaning. But, can you elaborate on this expression?
Jessica is not only beautiful, but says you can build whatever you want as long as it pleases you. She is not a typical woman, so she’s one you definitely want to hold onto, or “keep”.
What if what pleases me does not pleases you? Still fine? I will let you do whatever you want to do with Kitchen.
Sometimes people list a house as having a 3/4 bath, which means toilet, sink & shower, but no tub.
When we were looking at houses, we saw a lot of houses with the “Pittsburgh commode” feature. I thought it was really odd, and I grew up only 3 hours from here! Pittsburgh certainly is special!
I see. Thank Madie for the information! I do not think people use a bathroom in the basement anymore. Am I right?