Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
home 2, house (nn.)
Realtors have turned home into a euphemism: no realtors worth their salt will sell houses, only warm, emotion-filled homes. Edgar Guest did much damage earlier in the century when he persuaded some newspaper readers that “It takes a heap o’ livin’ to make a house a home.” Nor is this the only euphemistic entanglement the highly charged word home has been involved in: the terms convalescent home, retirement home, and nursing home are in such universal use that the more explicit, informative asylum, convalescent hospital, retirement center, or nursing hospital are no longer current. Much tugging and hauling is ill-concealed in this double use of the word: We wanted to keep mother at home, but the doctor said she’d be better off in a home.
