grads live in parents' basements?

Question

Whether you're a recent grad who's been living in your parents' basement since Commencement Day or in the midst of your college career trying to figure out what you should major in, there's good news coming your way.

Hi there, I have three questions concerning bold parts above. Thanks a lot.

1. Why do grads live in their parents' basements? Is this kind of tradition in western countries?

2. By my point of view, we usually do not think a college as a career. Could you make any comment about this?

3. What does it mean by coming your way?

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

Whether you're a recent grad who's been living in your parents' basement since Commencement Day or in the midst of your college career trying to figure out what you should major in, there's good news coming your way.

Hi there, I have three questions concerning bold parts above. Thanks a lot.

1. Why do grads live in their parents' basements? Is this kind of tradition in western countries?

Some students live with their parents while attending college, usually in order to save money. The reference is to such people, who have recently graduated but have not yet moved out of their parents' home.

2. By my point of view, we usually do not think a college as a career. Could you make any comment about this?

The word 'career' us used to refer to significant parts of your journey through life, eg your high school career, your university career, your career in the work-place. It tends to be used rather idiomatically, ie not for everything.

3. What does it mean by coming your way? It refers to something that is 'in your destiny'.

Best wishes, Clive

Osee · Answer

thanks a lot, clive. but why using basement, which should be the bottom of a house. I do not think so many parents live in houses, each of which only has one bedroom for themselves so that their children has to be in basements. Can you make further comments here? thank you.

CliveHi,

Whether you're a recent grad who's been living in y

CliveHi,

Whether you're a recent grad who's been living in your parents' basement since Commencement Day or in the midst of your college career trying to figure out what you should major in, there's good news coming your way.

Hi there, I have three questions concerning bold parts above. Thanks a lot.

1. Why do grads live in their parents' basements? Is this kind of tradition in western countries?

Some students live with their parents while attending college, usually in order to save money. The reference is to such people, who have recently graduated but have not yet moved out of their parents' home.

2. By my point of view, we usually do not think a college as a career. Could you make any comment about this?

The word 'career' us used to refer to significant parts of your journey through life, eg your high school career, your university career, your career in the work-place. It tends to be used rather idiomatically, ie not for everything.

3. What does it mean by coming your way? It refers to something that is 'in your destiny'.

Best wishes, Clive

Clive · Answer

Hi again,

thanks a lot, clive. but why using basement, which should be the bottom of a house. I do not think so many parents live in houses, each of which only has one bedroom for themselves so that their children has to be in basements. Can you make further comments here?

Houses in N. America normally have 3 bedrooms. Some of the young ad\aults that we are talking about would certainly just live in one of these bedrooms. However, the advantage of a basement is that it provides a certain amount of separation, of independence, that is valued by many young adults in our culture.

You need to understand that basements in N. American houses are often very nice, with several rooms that may include a bedoroom, a bathoroom and plenty of living room ,with a TV and other amenities.

Such matters as the relationship between parents and adult children, and the need for independence, are very dependent on the culture that people are a part of.

Clive

Nona the brit · Answer

I quite fancy an American style basement. I might be wrong but the impression I get from TV shows etc is of a very nice large area, often with proper rooms as Clive describes, that could be used virtually as a self-contained apartment.

Over here it is very rare to find such places. We (occassionally) have cellars instead - which are nasty grubby little cave-like holes full of 30 years of accumulated junk, coal dust and spiders. When I was a kid my aunt's house had a cellar and it used to scare me to death to so much as walk past the door.

Osee · Answer

You mean in England? And you usually use it for storage wines?

Nona The BritI quite fancy an American style basement. I might be wrong but the impression I get from TV shows etc is of a very nice large area, often with proper rooms as Clive describes, that could be used virtually as a self-contained apartment.

Over here it is very rare to find such places. We (occassionally) have cellars instead - which are nasty grubby little cave-like holes full of 30 years of accumulated junk, coal dust and spiders. When I was a kid my aunt's house had a cellar and it used to scare me to death to so much as walk past the door.

BarbaraPA · Answer

I think the other thing that's implied in the original is that in the U.S., once you go off to college, you have "left home." You probably come back for summer holidays and other school breaks, but generally, you're done with the "living at home with your parents" stage in your life. The hope is that you graduate, get a good job, and move on.

A decade or two ago, there was a sense that if you had to move back to your parents' house, you weren't really functioning as an adult. I believe that in Seinfeld, George lived over his parents' garage, or something like that? That was a big "loser" trait in the U.S. This is a cultural thing, of course, and doesn't apply throughout the land. And in the last several years, with housing prices and student debt so high, it's become more common for recent graduates to return home after graduation.

Nona the brit · Answer

Osee,

A very few people have wine cellars - it's not at all common. You would have to be a real wine buff and find yourself a property with a cellar. Stately homes have wine cellars. Normal houses normally do not.

Cellars (for any purpose) are very unusual and normally only found in some older properties. I only mentioned my aunt's cellar as it was so unusual.

ScratchThat · Answer

Nona, I'm with you. I also love basements, as do many American men. It gives them the feeling of retreating into their manly "cave" where everything is dark and masculine, and where the comfy couch and the big television are. If I may fill you in on a little more information on basements in the USA...

1. Not every location in the USA can have a basement. Coastal areas have too much ground water and the basement would be flooded if a basement build were attempted. Florida is notorious for this, as the entire state is pretty much like swiss cheese with thousands of miles of subterranian caves filled with crystal-clear, ice-cold spring water. Every now and then a "sinkhole" will open somewhere and Florida and swallow someone's car or home.

2. Houses that do not have basements are built "on a slab" (of concrete). Whe people are buying homes, the potential buyer (the husband, that is) will ask, "Does it have a basement or is it on a slab?" The basement is a selling feature, of course.

3. Houses are usually built with "unfinished" basements. This means that the floor of the basement is concrete and the only vertical structures in the basement are those which are necessary for the structure's integrity. To "finish" a basement means, at the bare minimum, floor covering (such as carpet), walls framed and dry-wall / sheet-rock applied (but not painted), electrical outlets installed, plumbing installed (if there is a bathroom in the basement), and lighting installed. This is all that is implied when someone says that a home has a "finished" basement.

4. "Getting around to finishing the basement" is what lots of men end up spending years doing.

5. I love well-finished basements with hardwood floors and bars with draft beer and stained glass windows and theater seating with 5.1 surround sound and huge televisions to watch football (not "soccer") games. All of the light, airy, and feminine decorations can be upstairs while the basement is the man's domain. Then again, I'm gay, so both the upstairs and the downstairs looks like a cave in my own house. Interestingly enough, women always tell me that they think my home is beautiful and comfortable. I figured they'd regard it as a hunting lodge of some sort. Shows you how much I know about women!

Vorpar · Answer

Whether you're a recent grad who's been living in your parents' basement since Commencement Day

The implication here is that this person has finished college, but not yet found a job (or has a job that doesn't pay enough for him to get his own apartment.)

grads live in parents' basements?

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