[HPFGU-OTChatter] Re: Language with a flourish

Jen Faulkner jfaulkne at eden.rutgers.edu
Thu Apr 12 22:51:15 UTC 2001


On Thu, 12 Apr 2001 catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk wrote:

<snip of the house descriptions>
> Before I answer, a question.  What on earth are "flexible traffic
> patterns"?

In describing houses, a "traffic pattern" would refer to how people walk
through it (e.g., you go in through the front door, follow a hall to the
kitchen and walk through the kitchen to get to the family room (the plan
for my mother's old house), or you go in through the front door in the
living room, and walk through it and the dining area to get to the
kitchen (the plan for my apartment now)).  A house that has flexible
traffic patterns then is one which you can walk through in different
orders (depending on such factors as which door you use to enter).  
Knowing what sort of traffic patterns a house forces is important for
choosing carpets and furniture (heavily trafficked parts of the house
call for more durable furnishings, rooms that are only for company call
for more 'distinguished' or what have you furnishings, etc.), as well as
for determining how 'comfortable' a house is to live in.

And Christian, that first description sounds out-dated to me, in terms
of real estate descriptions.  The second is much more how a house
listing a realtor would have would read now.  Or so it seemed to me in
my cursory read-through.

--jen :)

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