flat, apartment, room

[DaSwede]

Flat, apartment - what's the difference? I have googled but that just adds to my confusion. Both are often defined as a suite of rooms - what word to use for a one room... thingy. If you use the word 'room', doesn't that sound as if it's furnished and comes with a stern landlady living in the same house, and like you yourself are Raskolnikov?

Some of the confusion (on my behalf) may perhaps have to do with differences between American English and British English?

I'm not logged on every day, so I'll say thanks in advance!

[bednobs]

flat: a home that is all on the same level (may have stairs to get to it outside the actual flat)
appartment - often used in america for a flat or for a home on a complex of other appartments
studio flat or bedsit is the word you are looking for for a one roomed place

[DaSwede]

Thanks bednobs, studio flat or studio apartment does seem to be the right word for what I wish to describe. Bedsit sounds more depressing, I gather? Found this on Wikipedia:

Bedsits are often associated with poor people, and are referenced this way in Nights in White Satin by The Moody Blues: "bedsitter people look back and lament/on another day's useless energy spent".

Not that that description isn't spot on...

[bednobs]

bedsit is downmarket from a studio flat. in a bedsit, you would share a bathroom with other people. In a studio you have one to yourself

[DaSwede]

Thanks again bednobs!