Can you describe the living room as out here?

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B45

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Can you describe the living room as out here?

For example - You don't have to stay out here(living room), I'll bring your cell phone to you later.
 

SoothingDave

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I am not sure what the phone has to do with anything. But you could say "you can stay out here, I just need to check something in the kitchen."
 

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I've never heard of a living room being 'out' anywhere, unless it's outside. I'd say, "You can stay in here, ..."
 
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I am not sure what the phone has to do with anything. But you could say "you can stay out here, I just need to check something in the kitchen."

I'm using her phone and she's sitting in the living room waiting for me, instead of doing her work in her room. Can I use:

You don't have to stay out here(living room), I'll bring your cell phone to you later.
 

bhaisahab

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I'm using her phone and she's sitting in the living room waiting for me, instead of doing her work in her room. Can I use:

You don't have to stay out here(living room), I'll bring your cell phone to you later.

It would be more natural to use "in" rather than "out", unless, as Raymott suggested, the living room is outside.
 

Tdol

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I wouldn't use it. It sounds a bit confusing to me.
 

MikeNewYork

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I could see it if the speaker's frame of reference was the bedroom, where the listener's work is waiting. She may be saying you should be "in there" rather than "out here".
 

emsr2d2

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For some reason, most people I know refer to the living room as "in" and the kitchen as "out".

Where's Jane?
She's out there/She's out in the kitchen.

Where's Jane?
She's in there/She's in the living room.

Perhaps it's because we generally think of people spending more time in their living room but only going into the kitchen for shorter periods, just for long enough to make a drink or make dinner.
 

Raymott

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I guess the set-up of a house doesn't have to be conventional. The living room might be relatively "out" compared to the rest of the house, but it seems no-one likes your "out there". One place I can see a use for it is in a multiple boarding-house situation, where everyone has their own bedroom, which they must come out of to be in the living room or common room. But most people don't live in such places.
 

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I don't think it has anything to do with the layout of the house, or being outdoors.

It's a simple contrast. You stay out here, I'm going in there.
 

Raymott

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It's a simple contrast. You stay out here, I'm going in there.
"You stay up here; I'm going down there." Why not use just any opposing prepositions if 'in' and 'out' have no inherent meaning here?
If 'up' and 'down' imply some relation between the rooms, why don't 'in' and 'out'?
Yes, it's a simple contrast, and perhaps this family idiosyncratically uses the words 'in' and 'out' for the kitchen and the living room. Or maybe they use 'out' for the room they are currently in and 'in' for a room they are going to.
 

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They do have a meaning. "In" is the room I am in, or am going to go to. "Out" is the place that is not the place that is "in."

Have you never had someone attempt to come into a room or follow you somewhere and you have said "stay out here/there"?
 

Raymott

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Ah, I see. I could understand that if 'in' was someone's bedroom. Yes, I would say "You stay out here; I'll go into my bedroom". The original makes sene if it's said by someone who has appropriated the kitchen as her/his space.
 
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