Wordsmith.org
Posted By: wwh carpet vs. rug - 02/29/04 08:13 PM
What is the difference between a carpet and a rug? I tend to think of a carpet as covering more space than a rug.
But the dictionaries give them as synonyms.
From a story I'm reading:
Instead of the luxurious apartment I had prepared myself to behold, a plain, scantily-furnished room opened before me, of a nature between a library and a studio. There was not even a carpet on the polished floor, only a rug.....,

Posted By: Buffalo Shrdlu Re: carpet vs. rug - 02/29/04 08:55 PM
I think of carpet as going from wall to wall, and a rug as having a bound edge. I might use a hunk of carpet as a rug, but only temporarily...

Posted By: Fiberbabe Re: carpet vs. rug - 02/29/04 08:56 PM
Yeah, I think of carpet as having that wall-to-wall quality, whereas a rug just covers a portion of the floor... throw rug, area rug, mug rug ... no one I know would ever say "throw carpet".

Posted By: wwh Re: carpet vs. rug - 02/29/04 09:40 PM
I don't ever remember seeing wall to wall carpeting anywhere
when I was a kid.

Posted By: jheem Re: carpet vs. rug - 02/29/04 09:48 PM
If a carpet goes from wall to wall, why would anybody talk about wall-to-wall carpeting? Or an area rug? (I.e., if it only covers an area anyway?) Also, there used to be talk about a flying carpet, not a flying rug. You get called onto the carpet, but have the rug pulled out from younder yourself. Carpet is from Latin/Italian and rug is from Scandinavian.

Posted By: Buffalo Shrdlu Re: carpet vs. rug - 02/29/04 09:54 PM
well, I wuz jes' sayin'...

good points all, jheem.

Posted By: jheem Re: carpet vs. rug - 02/29/04 09:58 PM
well, I wuz jes' sayin'...


Oh, so was I, eta. Just tryin' to glom onto their meaning(s).

Posted By: musick Re: carpet vs. rug - 02/29/04 10:00 PM
... and now it's all booged up.

Posted By: Faldage Re: carpet vs. rug - 02/29/04 10:55 PM
I would say that a carpet is fancier than a rug. Just as a general thing. A Persian carpet, for example, is of a finer thread and a more complex design than a Navajo rug.

Posted By: wwh Re: carpet vs. rug - 02/29/04 11:12 PM
All the wall-to-wall carpet I have ever seen is solid
color. Any pattern would greatly complicate the job
of laying it to look right.

Posted By: Sparteye Re: carpet vs. rug - 02/29/04 11:19 PM
There most certainly are patterned carpets, although they have lesser popularity than solid colors, I suppose in part because they are more expensive and more difficult to lay. I very purposely chose a patterned carpet for my stairway and upstairs hall, as the pattern helps conceal the wear for much longer than a solid carpet color does.

Posted By: Faldage Re: carpet vs. rug - 02/29/04 11:48 PM
I did not mean to suggest that carpets must be patterned. The example of the contrasts between a Persian carpet and Navajo rug were merely chosen to suggest the differences between two representatives of each category.

Posted By: wwh Re: carpet vs. rug - 03/01/04 01:08 AM
Does anyone of us know when the long rolls of carpeting
came onto the market?

Posted By: jheem Re: carpet vs. rug - 03/01/04 02:56 AM
Also, different styles of manufacture; Navaho rugs are woven and Persian carpets are pulled through. The pile?

Posted By: of troy Re: carpet vs. rug - 03/01/04 02:18 PM
re:If a carpet goes from wall to wall, why would anybody talk about wall-to-wall carpeting? Or an area rug? (I.e., if it only covers an area anyway?)

i see carpet as a somewhat permenent covering (wall to wall carpeting is 'nailed' to the floor!)
a large persian carpet, too, is some what fixed.

a rug is smaller.. you might have a winter one of wool, and summer one of sisial, a very small rug is an area rug.

and rug doesn't have to go on a floor.

you could put a rug on a piano, or over the lap of an invalid.

the idea of a fixed floor covering is what makes a flying carpet so magical! --here is an item that is know for its characteristic of being fixed to the floor (eithter by some device, or by sheer size and weight!) and now, its flying!-- its like talking about cold fire!

Posted By: jheem Re: carpet vs. rug - 03/01/04 02:55 PM
When I was young we had a carpet in the living room that must've been 25 foot square. It didn't make it to the walls. It stopped short. It was not nailed to the floor, because you could lift up an edge and sweep something under the carpet. Later, when I went to buy a Persian carpet or Oriental rug (which is my ideal for a flying carpet), I looked at rugs/carpets that were about 2' x 4' all the way up to about 20' square. Later still, when I lived in Germany, where they have little wall-to-wall carpeting in homes, I would stop by the Teppich store to look at all the Persian floor coverings. The German word is from the same source as the French word, tapis, which is related to our tapistry, which is a wall covering / hanging, to fight off the cold damp nights in the old keep. Not saying everybody else is wrong, just that for me carpet and rug are nearly synonymous.

Posted By: Faldage Re: carpet vs. rug - 03/01/04 03:15 PM
for me carpet and rug are nearly synonymous

I always find it interesting when we discover these word pairs that some find shades of meaning between. Rarely, if ever, are these shades of meaning consistent from one person to another. Makes me wonder about 'defending against the loss of these fine distinctions' so often espoused by the language guardians.

Posted By: jheem Re: carpet vs. rug - 03/01/04 03:24 PM
Makes me wonder about 'defending against the loss of these fine distinctions' so often espoused by the language guardians.

Yes. Just took a quick peak at the OED 1st ed. and learned about table carpets a thick kind of table cloth. Also, brought to mind lap robes, or travel rugs. I always thought that a lot of the fine distinctions come about from the juxtaposing of words into a phrase, sentence, or paragraph.

Posted By: of troy Re: carpet vs. rug - 03/01/04 05:49 PM
re:Does anyone of us know when the long rolls of carpeting came onto the market?

well both carpets and rugs are woven (well the flooring kind of carpets and rugs are!)

looms have always come in different sizes. large carpets (persian/oriental) were rare --because 1 large looms are rare, and 2they took longer to weave, (so fewer could be woven in a life time) and 3while much of persia (iran) is, and has been for centuries, settled (ie not nomadic)-many 'oriental' type carpets were made by nomadic or semi nomadic people. big looms can't readily be dis assembling and re assembling--while being used. so large carpets could only be constructed in large rooms, in towns/cities.
small carpets might only have one 'weaver' large ones were often designed and overseen by 1 person, but several children (often girls) were put to work making the carpet.. these girls were semi skilled.

machine looms (and france and belgium had some of the biggest pre industrial revolution looms) had the same limitations.
--there are all sorts of tensioning problems with big looms, and looms take a huge amount of time to 'set up' (about 10 to 12 hours for a simple 3 foot wide 4 heedle loom) -- exponentionaly more for each foot/heedle) --this made large carpets way more expensive than small ones!

power looms allowed for longer, continues strips, and early 'wall to wall' carpet was often made of several strips each 3 to 4 feet (circa 1 m.) wide, sewn together, and secured to the floor.

nowdays, new manufactureing techniques, and power means that some carpets are made 20 feet wide! --but 12 to 15 foot wide strips are more normal.

if you had 'wall to wall' carpeting installed, you know, its is invibible 'pieced' together.

Posted By: AlimaeHP Re: carpet vs. rug - 03/02/04 05:48 AM
The term rug is derived from the Scandinavian word rugga by way of the old Norwegian word rogg, which meant a wool covering for the bed or body. For several centuries in Europe, the term rug denoted a rough, heavy woolen fabric characterized by a coarse, napped finish and used as apparel by the poorer classes.
The term carpet was used originally to describe coverings for tables, beds, and other furniture, and only from the early 18th century was it associated with the floor. The modern usage is imprecise and includes all woven floor coverings and some textiles, such as wall hangings, furniture coverings, and saddlebags, made with a knotted pile or woven like a tapestry. The word carpet is ultimately derived from the Latin carpere, ””to pluck or seize,”” thus implying a plucking of wool or carding of wool fibers, and reflects the fact that for centuries wool has been used in making carpets.

carpet [ k?rp?t ]
noun (plural carpets)
1. floor covering: thick fabric for covering a floor
2. piece of floor covering: a piece of thick, heavy fabric covering the floor of a room or area
3. layer or covering: a layer or covering ( literary )
a carpet of snow


rug [ rug ] (plural rugs)
noun
1. fabric floor covering: a thick heavy fabric covering for a floor, especially one that is smaller than a carpet
2. animal skin mat: an animal skin used as a mat or small carpet
3. blanket: a thick blanket, especially one formerly used by car or carriage passengers to cover their legs and feet
4. hairpiece: a toupee or wig ( informal )

[Mid-16th century. Origin uncertain: probably from a Scandinavian word.]

I guess it all just depends on your topographical location as well as to what century you were born into as to the meaning of either.

Rev. Alimae
© Wordsmith.org