I asked my neighbor what his New Years resolution was. He said "To move into a new house" So this last Saturday, Jan 5th he did move. Today I went to see his house and it was like built in the 1940s. I said to him, "You said you were moving to a new house but this house is not new, it's old" He says to me. "Well its new to me" I said "Well you must have special eyes because it still looks old to me."

When someone says they're moving into a new house it doesn't necessarily mean brand new and freshly built. To him, it was a new house and I don't believe I've ever heard anyone say they were moving into an old house.

When someone says they're moving into a new house it doesn't necessarily mean brand new and freshly built. To him, it was a new house and I don't believe I've ever heard anyone say they were moving into an old house.

I agree with this. If I said I was reading a new book and you found out it was War and Peace, an old book, it would still be a new book to me because I hadn't read it.

Don't be so literal, especially if you want to avoid offending people and hurting their feelings.

I asked my neighbor what his New Years resolution was. He said "To move into a new house" So this last Saturday, Jan 5th he did move. Today I went to see his house and it was like built in the 1940s. I said to him, "You said you were moving to a new house but this house is not new, it's old" He says to me. "Well its new to me" I said "Well you must have special eyes because it still looks old to me."

I can see why your neighbor probably had his feelings hurt even if you didn't mean it the way it sounded. I agree with what the others have said. Our house wasn't new when we moved in six years ago but it was new to us and that's all that matters, really. In some cases it's better to have an older house that you can fix up the way you want. Personally I cannot stand when I am excited about something that's happened in my life or something that I've acquired only to have someone say something derogatory about it-even if they don't mean it. Even a simple "That's nice" is fine with me but it probably would have been better to just compliment his home rather than commenting on it. I would have been offended by that statement as well. I think that's great that he was ambitious enough to move into a "new" house so soon after 2013 started. Sounds like he's proud of his home.

You said this to your neighbor? Seriously?

Let me guess, your social calendar is pretty open, right?

I love older houses...they have so much more character than the brand new ones. I hope your neighbor is happy in his home, even if it wasn't "new."