Exercise 2: What makes a House a Home?

In my opinion the difference between a house and a home is the feeling about the place. A house is just a building, walls with a roof over, no attachment. Home is a place where people go back to, to feel safe and comfortable and cosy.

An interesting thought occurred to me when noting down ‘moving house’ – the actual house, the building does not get moved – but all the home belongings do – to make home in anew place. Yet it is called moving a house.

Home is usually in a house, but it doesn’t have to be.

Home could also be a place, as a foreigner in England I often get asked if I ‘go back home often’. And then I usually say here is ‘home’ now. But many people moving countries may not feel at home in their new location, and for them home is back where they grew up, where their family is.

I often consider differences between English and my mother tongue. In Polish language house and home are the same word. Yet somehow, we can tell the difference between the two meanings of the word.