DCHP-3

two-and-a-half

DCHP-2 (Oct 2016)

Spelling variants:
2 1/2

n. — Quebec, Housing

an apartment with a bathroom, a combined kitchen/living room and separate bedroom.

Type: 3. Semantic Change — In Quebec French, apartments are described according to the number of separate rooms, with a bathroom being counted as a half (Boberg 2005: 27), and these terms have been borrowed into Quebec English. The term varies depending on number of rooms, e.g. three-and-a-half for three rooms and a bathroom, four-and-a-half for four, and so on (see the 2012 and 2014 quotations). There is some room for interpretation, however. According to COD-2 (s.v. "two-and-a-half"), two-and-a-half refers to "an apartment having two rooms, typically a combined kitchen/living room and a bedroom, plus a bathroom". Boberg (2012: 500) states that a two-and-a-half is "usually what other Canadians would call a bachelor apartment and Americans a studio, with a kitchen and living room but without a separate bedroom". Further, Boberg (2005: 27) notes that an apartment "without a separate bedroom will therefore be a one-and-a-half or two-and-a-half, depending on whether it has a separate kitchen". In Boberg (2012: 500, Table 1), two-and-a-half is shown to be the fifth most frequent French-influenced word in Quebec English.
The quotations below show the range of uses, from one-and-a-half (the 1929 quotation), to five-and-a-half (the 1971 quotation).
See also COD-2, s.v. "two-and-a-half", which is marked "Cdn (Que.)".
The plural form is two-and-a-halfs. This term may also be used attributively, e.g. two-and-a-half room apartment.
Apart from Quebec, 1960s Winnipeg saw this use, see, e.g. the 1962 and 1965 quotations.

Quotations

1929
"Why, Manny - I like the house. If you're going to use two rooms for your office, I need all the rooms. We couldn't get along with less." She had forgotten the one and a half rooms she had lived in for so many years.
1962
He met Dennis Healy, the firm's regional director, in a Brooklyn hotel and was introduced to four "salesmen" with whom he would share a two-and-a-half-room apartment.
1965
Ultra modern throughout. Six four and a half room suites (2 bedrooms) and six three and a half room suites (1 bedroom.)
1971
You can still get five and a half rooms in a good flat and Mrs. Boyd is hoping more owners of flats will list their accommodations with the centre.
1986
Initially, the flames were mostly on the second and third floors and Galipeau still believed that the cement walls of his two-and-a-half room apartment would protect his furniture and collection of 500 books, painstakingly built up after fire had totally demolished the Park Extension building where he was living in 1981.
1991
Now the city of Montreal, through the Societe d'Habitation et de Developpement de Montreal, wants to buy the building from its bankrupt owner, Roger Turenne, for $4.4 million. Over two-thirds of the units, all 1 1/2s and 2 1/2s, are now empty.
2001
"This is the time to make hay," he said. "The wily old fox is taking nothing but small apartment jobs, two-and-a-halfs, three-and-a-halfs, main floor to main floor. [...]"
2011
Although she said she would go without to ensure her animals were fed, Wilson admits the situation in her five-and-a-half apartment "was overwhelming."
2012
What might be attracting such diversity are the Village's relatively inexpensive rental costs. Alston pays $630 per month for a three-and-a-half bedroom place with a backyard, a set-up that could cost $1,000 or more in the Plateau. A Craigslist search for apartments in the Village turned up a two-and-a-half for $450 and a three-and-a-half for $625.
2014
She said often youths will "couchsurf" - crash on a friend's couch for a night or two - or six youths will share a four-and-a-half and spend half of their welfare cheque on their allotted space in the apartment. And with many of them dealing with drug and alcohol addiction, mental health issues and the baggage of having been through the child welfare system, it can often make for an explosive household, Pare added.

References

  • Boberg (2005)
  • COD-2
  • Boberg (2012)