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Discussion Groups / English Usage / May 2009Not the "Homestead Act"
After consulting dictionaries, encyclopedias, chronicles and other historical documents, I resort to aue as the ultimate authority on usage. Does the word "homestead" also mean "residence" in _contemporary_ usages? > After consulting dictionaries, encyclopedias, chronicles and other > historical documents, I resort to aue as the ultimate authority on > usage. > Does the word "homestead" also mean "residence" in _contemporary_ > usages? I don't think any BrE speaker would use this except when being consciously archaic. What do others think? With best wishes, Peter.  SignaturePeter Young, (BrE), Consultant Anaesthetist, 1975-2004. (US equivalent: Attending Anesthesiologist) Now happily retired. Cheltenham and Gloucester, UK. http://pnyoung.orpheusweb.co.uk >> After consulting dictionaries, encyclopedias, chronicles and other >> historical documents, I resort to aue as the ultimate authority on [quoted text clipped - 7 lines] > >With best wishes, In Florida, if you own a residence - and that residence is your primary residence - part of the value of that residence is exempt from real estate taxes. It's called the "Homestead Exemption". The purpose is to gives a tax break to full-time resident house owners as opposed to people who own residences that they rent out or people who own residences that are winter homes. That would make "homestead" a contemporary usage to Floridians. That is the only context in which we would use "homestead", though, unless we were being deliberately archaic and referring to "the old homestead". Google says that Florida is not the only state with a Homestead Exemption. It also refers to certain legal aspects of the homestead. SignatureTony Cooper - Orlando, Florida >>> After consulting dictionaries, encyclopedias, chronicles and other >>> historical documents, I resort to aue as the ultimate authority on [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > Google says that Florida is not the only state with a Homestead > Exemption. It also refers to certain legal aspects of the homestead. All states also have an option of homesteading one's residence to protect it from debt collection process (except for any mortgage on it). http://www.uslegalforms.com/realestate/homestead/ The two quite different "homestead exemptions" can be easily confused, unless it is made clear whether the reference is to taxes or debt protection. SignatureSkitt (AmE) >>> Does the word "homestead" also mean "residence" in _contemporary_ >>> usages? [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] >opposed to people who own residences that they rent out or people who >own residences that are winter homes. And in Baltimore (and least a few years ago when I was looking into it) there's a program to encourage people to rehabilitate decrepit houses and repopulate neighbourhoods with homeowners -- low-interest loans to buy houses and pay for renovation/restoration with a requirement that the recipient live in the house for at least some set period (five or ten years, I've forgotten which), not just "flip" it or rent it out ... and yes, the language they used was "homesteading". SignatureD. Glenn Arthur Jr./The Human Vibrator, dglenn@panix.com Due to hand/wrist problems my newsreading time varies so I may miss followups. "Being a _man_ means knowing that one has a choice not to act like a 'man'." http://www.panix.com/~dglenn/ http://dglenn.livejournal.com >>>> Does the word "homestead" also mean "residence" in _contemporary_ >>>> usages? [quoted text clipped - 13 lines] >"flip" it or rent it out ... and yes, the language they used was >"homesteading". The term "homesteading" has been used in Northern Ireland for a similar arrangement. Before that it was used for a co-ownership scheme in which a person would take out a mortgage for half the price of a house and a government agency would pay the other half. The person would then make normal mortgage payments and also pay rent to the government agency. The person had the opportunity to buy the government agency's share in the house. However I don't think that in either case the house was called a "homestead". SignaturePeter Duncanson, UK (in alt.usage.english) > After consulting dictionaries, encyclopedias, chronicles and other > historical documents, I resort to aue as the ultimate authority on > usage. > > Does the word "homestead" also mean "residence" in _contemporary_ > usages? Michigan has a special "homestead" provision in its property tax (BrE: "council rates") rules: a greatly reduced tax for the property in which the owner lives. Perce (dual-citizen OzBrit -- aka "whingeing Pommie bastard" -- in exile in US Midwest) Percival wrote on Sun, 17 May 2009 14:36:48 -0400: >> After consulting dictionaries, encyclopedias, chronicles and other >> historical documents, I resort to aue as the ultimate authority on >> usage. >> >> Does the word "homestead" also mean "residence" in >> _contemporary_ usages? > Michigan has a special "homestead" provision in its property > tax (BrE: "council rates") rules: a greatly reduced tax for the > property in which the owner lives. As a noun, "homestead" has several meanings given in the OED. I think the Michigan (and other state) use refers to an owner-occupied property, as you say, but can have a broader interpretation. ------------ Hence homestead grant, law, policy, etc.; homestead exemption, the exemption by law from forced sale under execution for general debts of a certain amount of real estate occupied by the owner as a homestead (Funk). 1. gen. The place of one's dwelling or home: a. The place (town, village, etc.) in which one's dwelling is. Obs. b. A home or dwelling. 2. a. A house with its dependent buildings and offices; esp. a farm-stead. b. Freq. in Australia and N.Z.: the residence of the owner of a sheep or cattle station; in later use also = STATION n. 14 (quot. 1898). 3. U.S. A lot of land adequate for the residence and maintenance of a family; a farm occupied by the owner and his family; esp. the lot of 160 acres granted to a settler by the Homestead Act of Congress, 1862. ----------- SignatureJames Silverton Potomac, Maryland Email, with obvious alterations: not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not > After consulting dictionaries, encyclopedias, chronicles and other > historical documents, I resort to aue as the ultimate authority on > usage. > > Does the word "homestead" also mean "residence" in _contemporary_ > usages? Homestead is rarely used in Canada. When used it means a unit of rural property, i.e. a piece of land (large or small) with at least one house (large or small.) This reflects general knowledge of history. "Homesteads" were in the 19th century tracts of undeveloped land sold cheaply to settlers who were obligated in the first X years (say 3 or 5) to clear N acres of land (say 5 or 25) for cultivation and build on it one habitable house. (Homesteads may have been granted up to about 1950, e.g. to army veterans of both world wars.) SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) |
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