sage wrote:
> Owain wrote:
>> In Scotland we have closes (as in Edinburgh, off the Royal Mile,
>> although some of them are vehicular), vennels, and pends.
> The other day, I saw that UK TV programme where people make a bid on
> one of three properties. It was set in Edinburgh and one of the
> properties was in a tenement (Not the same as a US tenement, as has been
> discussed here before).
> The presenter, Alice Beer (I think is her name) asked the estate
> agent/"expert witness" what could be done to cheer up the foyer and the
> ea/ew cautioned her that it should be referred to as "the close". That
> surprised me because I thought the close was the courtyard around which
> the tenement was built.
In Edinburgh's Old Town, the closes off the Royal Mile are the narrow
lanes leading between the tenements, but the word is also, and more
widely, used for the common stair.
A pend is more likely to be a courtyard.
Owain
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