Today I am thinking about how the phrases invented by realtors tell entire stories about the American collective unconscious of particular classes in oh so few words.
For instance, we all are already aware of the phrase “master bedroom” which recently people have realized is in poor taste and has lately been getting replaced by the term “primary bedroom.” Evoking the image of being the ruling master of a large estate with servants (or slaves) is no longer appealing, at least explicitly, to the middle class.
The one that stands out to me the most though is the phrase “in-law suite” referring to a secondary unit attached to the primary housing unit which contains a bedroom, kitchen, and sitting room. It could easily be called the “secondary suite” “bonus suite” “guest suite” but the realtor is not simply trying to describe the house, they are trying to evoke a purpose or fantasy to the customer, they tap into the american upper middle class collective unconscious, and they came up with “in-law suite” which just tells this entire story about how your spouse’s family (not YOUR family, but your spouse’s family) needs housing but you HATE them and want to never have to actually see them; so you have an entire secondary housing unit just for them so you can placate your spouse’s desire to give her (let’s be real, her) parents or sister a place to stay without having to actually, g-d forbid, live with your extended family like it’s the damn early half of the 20th century (or… all of history before 1950s… perhaps)
Imagine you are an immigrant, who did not grow up on American television; and perhaps English is not your first language. An “in-law suite” does not evoke any of this narrative. The phrase only makes sense if you culturally associate “in-laws” with “people I hate and begrudgingly tolerate.” In many cultures, the term for “in-laws” is “my family.”