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In my circle, Manchester, UK, many refer to their work habitat, be it office, shop or worshop, as "my place" or "the place". as in "I'm going to the place", or I left it in my place"

Is this usage peculiar to my area or my religion (Jewish)?

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    Speaking only for myself (Londoner, UK): I would only refer to somewhere as "my place" if I actually owned it. So my home is "my place", but my workplace isn't.
    – user11752
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 14:14
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    I've never met this usage. Of course, Oldham's over 5 miles away.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 14:17
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    I recognise "my place" as possibly meaning "my workplace" in context, though by default I would expect it to mean "where I live". "The place" I don't recognise at all. I live in Yorkshire, and go to Manchester quite often.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 14:17

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This is informal, and the sort of thing that I would expect to vary from place to place.

But here in the U.S., "my place" means "my home". I don't recall ever hearing someone use it to mean the place where they work or worship, etc. Intuitively, if a business owner referred to his shop as "my place" I wouldn't think it jarring. But as I say, I don't recall ever hearing someone say that.

Figuratively, "my place" can refer to one's position in society or an organization. Like, "The boss said to do it, so I did it even though I thought it was a bad idea. I know my place." Or, "There's no way I'll take your side against my wife. My place is with my family." Perhaps this is most often used negatively, almost as an insult. Like, "Shut up. You need to learn your place, boy."

"The place" could be anywhere, and needs to be identified by context. "Do you know the restaurant on Elm Street?" "Oh, yes, I know the place." Or, "Where do you work?" "The place with the big red sign." Etc. Without some context to say which place, it's pretty meaningless. If someone just walked up to me and said, "I'm going to the place", my natural response would be "Which place?"

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    Yes. 'Our place / your place' would generally be taken to default to 'chez nous' etc in the UK. With context ('We're having trouble with dust accumulation on the 200" telescope mounting. Do you get the same problem at your place?') the default would obviously be overridden.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented Feb 25, 2016 at 14:45

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