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<p>Re the recent exchange about VW's view of bungalows. In <i>The
Waves</i> Neville says: "Alas! I could not ride about India in a
sun helmet and return to a bungalow." I used to assume that he
meant "retire to a bungalow in England," but Woolf doubtless knew
that the word is of Indian (Hindi) origin, so the imagined
bungalow is presumably in India not the home counties, and
returned to not on retirement but at close of day.<br>
<br>
Another tricky dwelling term is "villa," a word that seems largely
to have dropped out of (Real) Estate jargon in the UK, but that
survives in many road names ("Riverside villas" etc etc). Again in
<i>The Waves</i>, Jinny says "Look – all the windows of the villas
and their white-tented curtains dance [. . .]. There are bowers
and arbours in these villa gardens and young men in shirt-sleeves
on ladders trimming roses." I again used to think that these would
be gardeners working for posh families: my Oxford Advanced
Learner's Dictionary gives among other definitions: "a large house
in a town" for "villa." The old SOED also gives "country house or
farm, country mansion or residence . . . hence any residence of a
superior type . . . such as is occupied by a person of the middle
class," but it adds: "also any small better-class dwelling house,
usu. one which is detached or semi-detached." I take it that this
is what Jinny sees: the men in shirt-sleeves are middle-class
owner-occupiers, not of large houses or country mansions, but of
small(ish) houses with gardens. Right?<br>
</p>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Jeremy Hawthorn
Emeritus Professor
Norwegian University of Science and Technology
7491 Trondheim
Norway</pre>
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