I don’t like the word “roommates” when we are talking about adults sharing a roof over their heads. I think “roommates” sounds like camp, boarding school, or college.
The British use “flatshare” which is good, but Americans don’t live in “flats.” We live in apartments, condos and houses. I might have used “homesharers” but that word is used by social organizations who match people up. I settled on “housemate” to describe a person who shares a roof with another. Then I discovered that the Australians use the word “housemate” in the sense I use it. Nice.
[...] much more commonly than Americans do. I like the word and use it rather than other variations. I discussed this briefly awhile [...]