← Previous Post: | Next Post:

 

Annals of New Pretentious Terms

From a full-page print ad in today’s New York Times for 108 Leonard, a new apartment building.

108 Leonard features distinctive 1 to 4 bedroom residences and over 20,000 square feet of amenities including a 75-foot pool and rooftop gardens, as well as motor reception with private parking.

UD thinks motor reception is what we used to call valet parking; but maybe for the cost of your apartment (“Priced from $1,535,000 to over $20 million.”) you get a catered reception.

When Googled, the term “motor reception” shows up only in the context of speech and hearing studies (“the learner’s motor reception… the latent sequential imitation that analyses the articulatory-phonetic sequencing…”).

Margaret Soltan, March 18, 2018 4:57PM
Posted in: Scathing Online Schoolmarm

Trackback URL for this post:
https://www.margaretsoltan.com/wp-trackback.php?p=57716

7 Responses to “Annals of New Pretentious Terms”

  1. Bernard Carroll Says:

    And a 75-foot pool is intended to seem so much more upscale to prospective buyers than a 25-yard pool.

  2. Margaret Soltan Says:

    Hey good eye, Barney. LOL. Didn’t see that one.

  3. David Foster Says:

    Someone probably thinks that’s how the Brits say ‘valet parking’

  4. Polish Peter Says:

    I think it’s even more pretentious than at first glance, since it evokes the British usage of “motor car”, or the archaic way cars were sometimes called “motors” a century ago. I think lorry reception is around back.

  5. Margaret Soltan Says:

    Polish Peter: You’re right.

  6. theprofessor Says:

    It’s a beautiful old building, and I’m glad to see it being used. The unit in it most comparable in rooms and square footage to my house is going for a mere $4,600,000, which is about 30x what my house is worth.

  7. dmf Says:

    chances are much of it won’t actually be used but just bought as investments by international owners, this is what we see going on with Trump’s NY properties and why Britain/London is unlikely to limit Russian investments even as people are being assassinated.
    https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2015/nov/24/who-owns-our-cities-and-why-this-urban-takeover-should-concern-us-all

Comment on this Entry

Latest UD posts at IHE

Archives

Categories