AMERICAN EXPRESSIONS IN THE HOME

AMERICAN EXPRESSIONS IN THE HOME

Are you a "couch potato"? Weird, isn't it?

As weird as that may sound, it is very common in America. In this post I will show you a few other popular American expressions in the home, to describe how somebody spends their time at home.

Couch potato: indicates people who sit and watch TV too much. Usually, people who watch TV sit on their couch, therefore this expression originated from that.
E.g. "My sister is a couch potato! She watches 4 hours of TV a day."

Mouse potato: people who enjoy spending too much time using their computers. The mouse here is used to control the cursor on the monitor of a computer. The use of this expression started originated of this accessory.
E.g. "Kids these days are all mouse potatoes! They spend their whole day surfing the Net!"

Cocooning/Nesting: (usually used to indicate women) people who loves staying at home and trying to make their house nice-looking. Nests and cocoons are place where small birds or insects live in. Those animals always try to build and clean their nest, so "nesting" can be applied to people who like decorating their home.
E.g. "Jane likes cocooning because every time I come to her house, everything is neat and decorated.

To leave the nest: children who have to move out of their parents' house due to age or college/university or marriage. Same as birds, when they are able to fly by themselves, they leave their parents' nests and live by themselves.
E.g. "My son is old enough to leave the nest. I don't want him to depend on me forever."

Cabin fever: what people experience after spending too much time at home watching TV and using the computer. This is not a disease, though. When having cabin fever, you feel bored and restless.
E.g. Greg got cabin fever after that winter when there was too much snow that he couldn't go out.