Kathy, my guess would be that both "bachelor" and "single" mean studio. Also, apparently apartments out there often don't come with fridges. Fucked up, right?

I'm betting that gynecological tools of a similar age are surprisingly modern-looking because human physiology hasn't changed that much, so there's only so many ways to shape 'em.

I actually came away from the Museum of Surgery with the opposite impression -- that we are sorely overdue for a next-generation speculum. The only difference I could see is that the modern ones rust less.

They don't have to have fridges and stoves.

A Bachelor is a dorm fridge, a hot plate, and shower with no tub. In fact, you sleep in the tub, a two by four folds out over it and you sort of balance on it.

A single is what I have. A single room. There's a full kitchen and bathroom.

And if you're very lucky, you can spin without touching the walls. But I have short arms.

An apartment that's smaller than a studio, from what I understand.

What could be smaller than a studio??

Ah, and Allyson explains in the crosspost. Of course, in Manhattan, they'd call that a one-bedroom.

An apartment that's smaller than a studio,

No separate kitchen.

Yes, Ali, San Carlos is correct.

I am fascinated that we don't use these terms out here. There are just studios, and then there are one-bedrooms. A bedroom has to have a window, so my friend lives in a "two-room studio" where she actually has her bed in a different room from the kitchen/living room, but it doesn't "qualify" as a bedroom.

No separate kitchen.

That is a studio in NYC, but studios, on the whole, are larger here. But they do make you buy your own fridge for some crazy-ass reason.

It's all so random. My best friend had a studio in the Outer Richmond district of S.F. about seven years ago -- big, beautiful old 3-story building with nothing but studios, but they were VAST. For those who've visited Chez Zmayhem, picture one room roughly double the size of the Zmayhem living room and kitchen put together, with a separate kitchen slightly larger than our back porch and a walk-in closet almost the size of Emmett's bedroom. 14-foot ceilings and hardwood floors.

Ever since, I've had that ridiculous and unequalled place firmly lodged in my brain as What A Studio Ought To Be, so whenever I see normal-sized studios I gasp and cringe.

What could be smaller than a studio?

Efficiencies, which are apparently close to the same thing as Bachelor apartments, although the efficiencies I've seen in Oak Park have full fridges and stoves, just stuffed into a closet instead of being a separate kitchen.

I was lucky with the studios I've lived in--they were both huge rooms that easily subdivided into "living room" and "bedroom" sections, and they both came with big walk-in closets and kitchens with room for a dinette and chairs.

Also, apparently apartments out there often don't come with fridges. Fucked up, right?

That's just wrong. You'd have to do some extra arm twisting to get your buddies to help you move if it involves moving a fridge as well as the couch.