When is a flat not a flat?

They're nearly always 'apartments' round here - I think the builders/estate agents thunk it sounds swankier. I heard of someone who was very offended when someone asked about her flat - 'It's not a flat - it's an apartment!'

Maisonettes - there are a lot of purpose built (mostly Edwardian) maisonettes around here. They are distinguished from flats by the fact that they have their own front door to the street. Most also have their own small garden, with steps down if they're the first floor one. From the outside they look like a period house, until you notice the 2 adjacent front doors.

I have sometimes wondered who thought up the term 'maisonette'. Was it some builder who first thought of dividing a house in two, and translating 'little house' into French? Or did he just nick the word from across the Channel?

PS - if it was some enterprising builder I suppose he thought 'maisonette' sounded swankier than 'half a house'. Much like the flat/apartment business now. And they are different from normal flats, in having their own street doors and often their own garden.

My friend lived in a maisonette years ago, it was on 2 floors, but there was another above it, also on 2 floors. From outside they looked like a block of flats.

I just think of apartment as an Americanism. We only had 'flats' until fairly recently, so the 'apartment' I see as a marketing ploy. 'I have my own apartment' sounds swish. I noticed a new block of flats near here were sold as apartments. I wonder if builders can get more by calling them that? (They were tiny one-bedroomed things, flats of old, costing an arm and a leg.)

There are a lot of converted old offices blocks close to where my son lived. They are all now apartments and the starting price is £230,000 for a 2 bed.

Well, my new downstaris toilet isn't going to be classed as a downstairs toilet, but as The Royal Box as it will contain The Throne! Very Hyacinth!