What do you call that enclosed space sticking out of the house in the US?
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2When it is on the rear of a house, as it is in your picture, in the US it is often called a "mudroom".– TimRCommented May 21 at 10:23
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1Not directly relevant, because it's BrE rather than AmE, but on this side of the pond many of us call that a porch.– FumbleFingersCommented May 21 at 10:25
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Would a porch in the UK be narrow like that, and jut out perpendicularly from the house? In the US, a porch's long side runs parallel to a house wall, not perpendicular to it.– TimRCommented May 21 at 10:28
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1Off topic, but you can find lots of pictures of porches on Wikipedia. It describes a range of things, open and closed, squarish and long.– Stuart FCommented May 21 at 10:38
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3Just to be mischievous, in British English, which was not asked for, I would call that thing that's all walled in, with its own outside door, a vestibule. A porch, to me, is open on at least one of its three sides.– Michael HarveyCommented May 21 at 13:43
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1 Answer
In the U.S. that small room is often called a mudroom. I have only ever heard it called that, however, in places that get muddy, the midwestern, eastern, and southern U.S. Generally it serves as a place to remove your coat, boots, and shoes.
I'm not sure if they would call it a mudroom in Arizona. Would there even be such a room in Arizona?
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The full OED says mud room typically occurs about 0.05 times per million words in modern written English, whereas porch typically occurs about nine times per million words in modern written English. That's a pretty big difference. Commented May 21 at 13:26
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I am not an AmEng speaker but I do like interior design, and I have heard of and seen what mudrooms are. +1 Commented May 21 at 14:34
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1A porch, for me, is an open area attached to the long side of the house that has a porch roof held up by poles or covered by a canopy. It is a place where you can sit and eat outside. The floor area will often be paved. It is not a mudroom. Commented May 21 at 14:42
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The full (subscription-only) Oxford English Dictionary "prevalence" figures I cited were from their entry for mud room (first recorded 1950), where the main entry itself is two words, as are 3 of the 4 cited written instances (the other one is hyphenated). Their definition is A small vestibule, spec. one in which wet or muddy footwear may be left as one enters a house. And I'm not going looking for details, but it's my recollection that not all Inuits are happy about the way the word igloo is used in other languages. Commented May 21 at 15:18
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1@FumbleFingers a porch is usually open and exposed to the outdoors. If it is enclosed, it would be enclosed with glass or screens, so the outdoors is still visible. I would not call any fully-enclosed area in front of a house a porch.– EstherCommented May 23 at 18:49