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In my mother tongue Armenian it is customary to refer to people's houses with a plural noun in the genitive case, e.g. Armenenc‘ tun ‘Armen's [and his family's] house/home’ (literally ‘Armens' house/home’). This is sometimes said by force of habit even when the person lives alone, e.g. it is common to say "Let's go to Armenenc‘ tun" even when Armen lives alone.

In English, on the other hand, I've noticed this is not at all common, i.e. people refer to their houses with my, your etc. even if the person is living with his family.

I suppose this has something to do with the fact that in Armenia people stay in with their parents for many years after coming of age. Until recently, it was (and in rural areas still is) the norm to stay in your parents' house even after marriage, so apparently it is not common for an Armenian to have the chance of living alone unless some special circumstances call for it (e.g. studying in another city and renting a house there). In America and partially in the West, on the other hand, I suppose it is more welcome and even encouraged to move out and live on your own when coming of age.

Is there such a peculiarity in your mother tongue?

Bill Heap
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  • There may be some cultural reason that English prefers "my house," but I do not think it's the reason you've identified. We also say, "my bus comes at 10:30", "my town is pretty small", "my country, 'tis of thee" and it you'd have a harder time arguing that there's a special relationship between Americans and their buses, towns, or country. – Juhasz Feb 07 '22 at 17:49

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It's also common in Korean: houses and family relations are coupled with plural genitive pronouns. A person would say uri jip ("our house") even if they live alone, and also say uri appa ("our dad") / uri eomma ("our mom") / etc. even if they are the only child.

A singular pronoun such as nae jip ("my house") is uncommon - it would be understood as emphasizing "Yes this is my house, I bought it myself!"

(When the owner is a noun, the distinction is more blurry because plurals nouns aren't usually marked in Korean.)

jick
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    우리 나라 uri nara = "our nation = Korea", 우리 남편/아내 uri nampyeon/anae = "our husband/wife" are other expressions where most other languages would use "my" more frequently. – Michaelyus Feb 09 '22 at 11:06