• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, April 5, 2024

HGTV’s “House Hunters” occasionally emerges as a source of insights and revelations about the evolution of language.

It is a subject near and dear to a writer’s heart -- new phrases replacing old ones, and new usages for words that strike the TV Blog as new.

The other day in a house search seen on the show, an exuberant husband had an item on his wish list of desired features that was new to me. He wanted a “streaming room.”

This was a new take on at least two previous phrases once heard often on “House Hunters” and other home-buying shows -- “man cave” and “media room.”

The streaming room is along the same lines. The husband did not explain what he meant by a “streaming room,” but it was self-evident that it is a room set aside for one specific purpose -- watching streaming TV shows.

This differs in some degree from the “media room,” which I always took to mean a room for all types of visual media, including streaming, but also other kinds of TV such as sports, news (and its corollary, news/talk), on-demand movies, network TV and basic cable.

Such rooms -- man caves, media rooms and now streaming rooms -- are all outfitted the same way with a very large flat-screen TV on the wall and some kind of seating array. 

In the home shows, man caves were places also set aside for the display of men’s collections that their wives would not tolerate anywhere else in the house such as sports memorabilia and “Star Wars” action figures.

In any case, now we have streaming rooms. In that same episode of “House Hunters,” the husband also expressed his enthusiasm for video games, but it was unclear whether this would be an additional use for his streaming room.

On another recent “House Hunters,” I picked up another phrase referring to the bedroom that was once known as the “master” bedroom.

Over the last few years, the word “master” has been flagged by the word police and thrown into word jail because to them it revives memories of “masters” who exploited -- i.e., “owned” -- enslaved African Americans.

Thus, you do not hear “master bedroom” anymore. In its place, you now hear “primary bedroom.” 

Now, a new one seems to have evolved from “primary” -- the “premier” bedroom, a usage heard just the other day.

It is apparently the same room as the “master” and the “primary,” but with the word “premier,” this room where the parents or other heads of the household sleep is elevated to a new level of importance.

Although the meanings of “primary” and “premier” are very similar, the adjective “premier” comes closest to suggesting a rank of “first in position” and “importance,” according to Webster’s. 

Two other usages of words struck me as representing changes in the way the words were once applied. 

In a recent “House Hunters,” a 20-something house hunter saw a colorfully tiled kitchen floor and declared that she “enjoyed” it

In reference to some bathtub tiling in another episode, another 20-something home buyer said she “appreciated” the tile.

I have a feeling that the two words were used here to mean they “liked” these tile choices. To me, one “enjoys” a good meal, a song, a movie, an episode of “House Hunters” or reading this TV Blog.

I have never heard it before in reference to “enjoying” a tiled floor. As for “appreciate,” I can appreciate a favor, some good advice or assistance from a salesperson at Macy’s.

So, if anyone reading this has made it all the way to this final sentence, let me please say that I appreciate your readership.