So, as many of you do, I pop back and forth between Active Rain and several other forums.

On one of those other forums (which rhymes with Julia) a gentleman asked if having a 'detention pond' behind a house, might affect the value of the property.

Several Realtors responded to the question, with their thoughts on yea or nay, each of them repeating the phrase 'detention pond'.

I, having never heard of a 'DEtention' pond, but certainly having heard of 'REtention ponds', made my typical smert-ass reply, and commented a little tongue in cheek with:

"Okay... I'm surprised nobody has picked this up yet. Or maybe I'm just the only one anal-retentive enough to mention it... but a detention pond is a place in Gitmo where they torture using waterboarding techniques.  And a REtention pond is an area where excess water is RETAINED, so it doesn't flood your basement while it waits to be absorbed into the ground. "

I was fairly quickly, and very politely corrected by Lee Adkins, a Realtor from Alpharetta Georgia, who told me:

A REtention pond is designed to hold a specific amount of water indefinitely. Usually the pond is designed to have drainage leading to another location when the water level gets above the pond capacity, but still maintains a certain capacity.

A DEtention pond is a low lying area that is designed to temporarily hold a set amount of water while slowly draining to another location. They are more or less around for flood control when large amounts of rain could cause flash flooding if not dealt with properly.

Good to know.  I had never heard the term DEtention pond... but I don't think I'll be forgetting it very quickly.  I always appreciate learning something new... and was happy that I was POLITELY corrected (on a public form, where I had just opened my smert-mouth)... Thanks Lee.

I stand corrected.