Man Cave

While the earliest citation appears to be in 1992 by a Canadian journalist, I became aware of this new dimension of cocooning last year when my son and his wife finished their basement so he could have office space for his telecommuting job.

His cave is painted a rich dark green. On the walls are prints of men, horses, ships, and the blade from a broken oar from his days as college rower. To the right of his desk where his three computers show his development environment and the output of his code, a muted television shows the golf channel.

What I love about this word is that the minute you say it, everyone knows what it is.

Snoring Room

This is a subordinate sleeping area solely for isolating a loud sleeper. Once called "captive rooms," a snoring room might have been an extra bedroom, dressing area, walk-in closet or former nursery, but it was never called a snoring room. In this era of ever-fresh marketing concepts, the term snoring room has arisen.

Watch for it in ad copy for upscale retirement communities. "Each home features two bedrooms, a study, and a snoring room . . . "