Re:Apparently in "old" Newfoundland it was common to have a couch in the kitchen and do all your visiting in there
Not just in Newfoundland.. most colleges have 'common rooms' that are lounge and eating rooms.. similar to the common room of my nana's house -- her good parlor was the back parlor (it got more sun, and overlooked a garden, not a common alleyway.)
fancy front parlors were still maintained in my childhood-- and still exist (ethnically) today. many, many italians (cousins, friends, etc) have a formal living room, and a second, room "family room" in the basement-- with a second kitchen.. and getting invited into the living room is a rare treat..
one of my mothers cousins was married to italian, and had such a formal room- it annoyed my mother no end that she was not invited into it, but was greeted at the door, shown the room, and invited to the basement!
(they must have 'opened' it by the time i was a teen, since i remember being in the basement room, and playing rock'n roll with out any parental complaints..)
and another dutch place name.. New Dorp-- a neighborhood in Brooklyn..(and i for got Harlem, named for a city in Holland-- (yes, the state of Holland, in the country of the Netherlands..) Flatbush too, i think is dutch (bush as in bushlands, or flat dry expanses..)
