Why have motor caravans become motorhomes?
Spent three decades mostly on the other side of the world: have been back in Blighty (for some of the time at least) for seven or so years. When I left most Brits would have said "motor caravan", since I've been back we all seem to be calling our vans "motorhomes".
Back in the day it was only massive American vans, the likes of those Fleetwoods and Winnebegos, best measured by the acre rather than the foot, that were ever styled "motorhome". At that time only the most pretentious owner of one of the comparatively little vans that we drive on this side of the Atlantic would ever say that they had a "motorhome". Fair enough for a decent sized A-class, they're almost the size of a very small home, but surely not for the general run of van conversions and coachbuilts produced in Britain and Continental Europe. So why the change? Is it the creeping Ameicanisation of good old British English? Or have we just all become just a little more pretentious?
Missed the change of name because was in Japan for thirty years. There campervans and motor caravans/motorhomes are all called, in Japanised English, something like "camping car".
The DVLA still says motor caravan ...
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The manufacturers usually call them motorhomes.
A rose by any other name......
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Perhaps to disassociate from the word caravan? It's probably something to do with marketing. According to Warner Publications who publish MMM, Motorhome Monthly Magazine, the magazine has been around for 53 years. So if they have kept the same name for the magazine, which I can't confirm, it would appear that the term motorhome was in use before you left for Japan? Having said that over thirty years ago the percentage of motorhomes to caravans was quite small compared to now.
David
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You could turn it round and ask when did a room in someone else’s house become a “home”? We live in strange times........😉😁
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I bought 'Which Motorcaravan' when I started "motorhoming". The DVLA say I have a motor caravan. We wouldn't have needed to rename the Caravan Club had we stuck with 'motor caravan'.
I wonder whether the change was the result of snobbery and/or marketing. It's not of any importance to me because I refer to my motor caravan as a van. But I do prefer Motor Caravan.
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The same reason ‘forsooth’(in fact) is no longer generally used. Evolutionary etymology, like all things language moves on & changes.
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Caravanette was a the term many years ago, and like the 'posters' above it's probably , Snobbery linked to marketing. Like many years ago you heard the term ' on site status' being banded about by the then large estate car even larger caravan users.
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Motor"home" is probably quite appropriate when you see the size of of the behemoths, some with 'slide-outs' that are around these days.
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It's just a descriptive term. Why it seems to matter to some, I've no idea. 🤷♂️
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a rose by any other name would smell as sweet
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I am sure that the sooner we accept that a self propelled vehicle with built in accommodation is now is ( and probably for years) called a motorhome I am sure we will all sleep happier in our beds
David
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The DVLA which years ago used to be the DVLC, call our van a motor caravan, we just call it the van, some call it our motor-home, owners of smaller vehicles, usually without a bathroom, often use the term camper-van.
I've just been sitting on our settee, some call it a sofa, and later when I go out, as it's a bit chilly, I may well need my coat, or is it an anorak ? My mother in years gone by sometimes used the term wind-cheater.
It's just language, it evolves.... Must go now and make another cup of coffee, even though it's actually going to be a mug..
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As someone remarked here, it's an evolutionary thing, and, as others have intimated, salesmen's whims about what will sell best. When we bought our first motorcaravan, a Bedford CF van conversion, they were referred to by the likes of MMM's editor John Hunt as a motorcaravan. However, it was not at all uncommon to hear less informed folks mention Caravanettes, or Dormobiles, even Caravelles, all trade names, just as vacuum cleaners were Hoovers long before Mr Dyson appeared. Then coachbuilts became motorhomes, to differentiate from mere van conversions, one assumes it made them sound more desirable. In recent times, motorhomes have tended to be the big white boxes, and van conversions have morphed into campers, a term which used to apply to people. It's all to do with seeking an identity which is different from that of the millions of others with exactly the same hobby! The one term which hasn't really taken off on our island and is possibly the most all-encompassing is RV (Recreational Vehicle) - except in the trade name MURVI perhaps?
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At 6m long, I think my panel van is too big to be classed as a camper yet isn’t really a motorhome although it’s exactly the same inside. For the sake of convenience I call it a MH but PVC is a more accurate description.
Really, what Lutz or I call them matters not as it’s down to the individual to use whatever term suits and we all know what we mean anyway.🤷🏻♂️
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A friend of mine moved into a bungalow where the planning regs did not permit caravan storage. So they bought a motorhome. Handy!!
BTW my spell checker doesn't like the word motorhome.
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That's the English language for you.
Its alive and well, adapting to all sorts of modern terminology, and long may that be so!
The DVLA still says motor caravan , well some organisations, including HMG, do get hung up on out of date words and are resistant enough to avoid change. Possibly because their English is set in stone.
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