Camping Lingo in different parts of the country

eabc5454 wrote:
Non-RVers don't get it. I used to say travel trailer and people asked how hard it is to drive. Now I have a MH, and people want to know what kind of truck I tow it with. And then there's the person at work who calls it a mobile home...

We call it the Mothership.

Hahahahahaha! Thanks for sharing! :)

Non-RVers don't get it. I used to say travel trailer and people asked how hard it is to drive. Now I have a MH, and people want to know what kind of truck I tow it with. And then there's the person at work who calls it a mobile home...

We call it the Mothership.

Elizabeth

LeBout wrote:
Last May when my wife and I took our TT to Minnesota we met with some friends and one of them said to me, "So, I hear you brought your camper."

My response was: "No...we have a travel trailer."

I should have caught on when he looked at me with a VERY puzzled expression. In Minnesota, "camper" is a general term for pretty much any RV (I should have remembered 'cause I was born and raised there) but in my vocabulary "camper" refers to a pickup camper.

Anyone else run into this?

Reminds me of this thread
http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/thread/tid/27047040/srt/pa/pging/1/page/1

I refer to a Truck Camper as a Camper. I refer to a Travel Trailer as a Trailer. That is why everytime I hear "camper" I think of a Truck Camper.
I call a 5th wheel, a 5th Wheel. I call a Motor Home a Motor Home. I really never refer to my 34' Avion TT as a Camper. I can see why some people would refer to a TT as a camper if they want to differentiate it from a flat bed trailer, but I like to keep things simple for me.

Could be like pop and Soda. Depends on what area you live or how you were raised.

ripperoo wrote:
Funny, I never thougth about it until you made me think about it. I guess in my mind:

Tent is a tent.
Camper to me is a generic for anything pulled, except a pop-up, which is a pop-up.
If being more specific, I will call a travel trailer a trailer, or bumper pull to seperate from 5th wheel. A 5th wheel is a 5th wheel.
RV is generic, in my speak, for a motorhome. I think this is because in my mind, I equate the "vehicle" part of recreational vehicle to self powered. Cars, trucks are vehicles that are self powered, so my mind, right or wrong, equates it that way. I'll call a motorhome a motorhome or RV.
Oddly, I'll call any Winnegago a Winnebago, but any other brand, will be called either RV or motorhome.
Haven't brought myself to call anything a coach unless it's horse pulled.

Wasn't the Robin Williams movie about a motorhome trip called RV?

Funny, I never thougth about it until you made me think about it. I guess in my mind:

Tent is a tent.
Camper to me is a generic for anything pulled, except a pop-up, which is a pop-up.
If being more specific, I will call a travel trailer a trailer, or bumper pull to seperate from 5th wheel. A 5th wheel is a 5th wheel.
RV is generic, in my speak, for a motorhome. I think this is because in my mind, I equate the "vehicle" part of recreational vehicle to self powered. Cars, trucks are vehicles that are self powered, so my mind, right or wrong, equates it that way. I'll call a motorhome a motorhome or RV.
Oddly, I'll call any Winnegago a Winnebago, but any other brand, will be called either RV or motorhome.
Haven't brought myself to call anything a coach unless it's horse pulled.

No one except RV owners really understands what a travel trailer is.

The specific terminology is arbitrary at best and is (I think) often forced upon us by the industry to idicate a change in "class" and therefore the money you should spend.

To get technical a 5th wheel is a travel trailer. Now, before anyone loses their minds, please hear me out. ;) It is a trailer that you travel with, and therefore it is a travel trailer. The 5th wheel name is really only a description of how it is towed. (You'll note that a horse trailer is a horse trailer, although some are in 5th wheel configuration while others are a tow-behind type) The same could be said for the moniker "bumper pull." It really only describes the how, not the what.

When I was growing up we talked about Truck Campers, Tent Campers, Pop-up or folding Campers, even Van campers (Class B conversions). Motorhomes (C and A Class) were all Winnebagos, just as all sofas were Chesterfields.

It's just my $0.02, but to me they are all campers, as are the people in them. Or as my wife said when I suggested we go tent camping with the kids: "I like camping, but I DO have standards." lol

Enjoy!

Where I am from in SD there are two types. A "motorhome" is any drivable RV including van conversions. A "camper" is any other towable RV.
This is the general lingo among those that are not in the RV lifestyle. Those of us that own and use them will use the more detailed terminology but when talking to others I find that if I don't say camper or motorhome they are confused.