America at home

Meaning

Noun

• the height of luxury, comfort, or modernity

Origin

• Originally, and literally, the state of enjoying the comfortable life associated with emigrating to America while remaining "at home" in Ireland (thus having the best of both worlds). E.g.:
• 1887, Conyngham Crawford Taylor
• *: As landlords in Canada expect their tenants to pay their rent when due, Mr. Kilbride would not improve his position by emigrating to this country, as, to use a common Irish expression, he appears to have a "very good America at home."
• 1971, Thomas P. Flanagan, Seanad Éireann debates 19 May 1971 :
• *: She asked me if I was the man who was in charge of the turf production and I said I was. She began to praise me and bless me because she said they had England and America at home. In other words, the earnings from turf production on a family basis were equivalent to what they would have got in England and America if the family had emigrated.