third place
n.— «Librarians and other experts say the growing conflicts are the result of an increase in the number of latchkey children, a decrease in civility among young people and a dearth of “third places”—neither home nor school—where kids can be kids.» —“Lock the Library! Rowdy Students Are Taking Over” by Tina Kelley New York Times Jan. 2, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In Cockney rhyming slang, apples and pears is a synonym for “stairs,” and dustbin lids means kids. Plus, sniglets are clever coinages for things we don’t already have words for. Any guesses what incogsneeto means? It’s the...
Many of us struggled with the Old English poem “Beowulf” in high school. But what if you could actually hear “Beowulf” in the English of today? There’s a new translation by Maria Dahvana Headley that uses contemporary...
How is this really different from Starbucks’ referring to itself as a third place (not home and not *work*)?
Because it applies to students, not businesspeople. The subtleties matter. Also, the term is probably older than Starbuck’s extended franchise expansion, as you can see from the cites at Word Spy. Note the Freud and Oldenburg reference there. A related term is the French troisième bureau, which usually refers to a bar or brasserie or the apartment of a mistress.