I have discovered yet another new word: "oxymoronicism", or, to state it another way, "This defies logical understanding."
The National Association of Home Builders has announced that, at their 2012 National Association of Home Builders International Builders' Show in Orlando, Florida, they will feature a home that will showcase home technologies, "green" building and energy efficiency, will be the greenest and smartest home to date - AND smaller than years past.
This last statement - "smaller than years past" - caught my eye. Much has been written about the gradual increase in size of the average American home over the past six decades. In the 1950's, the average home was 983 sq. feet. Steadily increasing, the twelve-hundred-square-foot, three-bedroom, one-and-one-half bath, two-stall garage home of the 1970's and 80's grew to 2,349 sq. feet in 2004. Now it is not unheard of, but certainly not "average", to have homes built in the 4,000 to 10,000 sq. foot range. Homes in this size range are sometimes referred to as "garage mahals", "Hummer houses" or "starter castles".
I thought "smaller than in years past" was great news.
Not.
The National Association of Home Builders featured "green" and energy efficient home, smaller than in years past, is 4,181 sq. feet, "the smallest in the New American Home Series in many years." I am certain that a "smaller" home of this size would come as a great surprise to the average American family, many of whom would be thrilled to be in a home half that size or smaller.
I stand by my title: "Oxymoronicism": the blending of an oxymoron with cynicism.
Ancora imparo
