|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
Would you say 'sofa' or 'couch' (or something else)? Are they the same things? Is there a material difference or just a regional one... or some other social issue at *play?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
I won't be able to answer your question until I be-52 (next year).
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
I've used both of those, as well as davenport...
heh.
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Although there might be technical distinction recognized by furniture makers or some such, I've always heard and used davenport, couch and sofa interchangably. "Loveseat", however, is reserved for couch with only room for two.
My American Heritage Dictionary defines a "couch" as a sofa which a patient lies while undergoing psychoanalysis or psychiatric treatment (Wow! That's news to me! Although, calling the multiple-occupant upholstered seats in our house "couches" now make sooo much more sense.); it defines a "sofa" as a long upholstered seat, usually with a back and arms; it defines a "davenport" as a large sofa, often convertible to a bed, or a small desk.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 508
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 508 |
I use sofa and couch interchangeably, and recognize (but never use) davenport. And, yes, loveseat is a small couch for two. On first reading, I thought the definition of davenport said it's a sofa that can be converted to a bed or desk - which I found rather odd! Overlooked the comma. 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500 |
I've just been reading a murder mystery (about antique dealers; who knew they were such a violent bunch?)in which a davenport is described as a "vertical desk with drawers down one side". But I, too, understand it to be like "couch" (which is what I use, rather than "sofa"). I grew up with the word "chesterfield", and I understand this is a Canadian use.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,624 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
The words used to describe the large soft piece of furniture on which more than one person can sit at a time are a SECRET CODE designed to inform the listener about the educational background of the speaker. It works like this:
The thing = high school dropout
Davenport (or Daveno) = high school graduate
Couch = community college graduate
Sofa = B.A. from a state college or university
Settee = one of those Eastern colleges which admitted only women.
Chesterfield = Ivy League degree or pretensions to one
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
And I thought a Chesterfield didn't seat a butt.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
The thing = high school dropout
You have to be in awe of a group of people who can use so few words to refer to so many things and still understand each other. If it's animate it's 'dude,' if inanimate, 'thing.' The level of intelligence must be well beyond those poor folk who need to be taught in school.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692 |
As Cap says, sofa and couch are pretty well interchangeable here and so is settee. The OED describes a couch as having a half back with one arm at that end only, but general usage is as for sofa and has been for as long as I can remember though that could have been an import from Hollywood. Don’t know about davenport, but a chesterfield is a subset of sofa. The chesterfield sofa is a type of upholstered settee that first appeared in England in the early 19th century. The first fully upholstered and sprung sofa, it may have been named after the town in Derbyshire. More likely, it is named after the 6th Earl of Chesterfield who was something of a fop; a type of double breasted overcoat is also named after him. The chesterfield has upright (as opposed to sloping) rolled arms that come up to the same height as the back of the sofa. Chesterfields are often upholstered in leather, with buttoned backs, but fabric upholstery is also common. It looks like this: http://www.darlingsofchelsea.co.uk/prodpage.asp?ProdID=3
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
If it's animate it's 'dude,' if inanimate, 'thing.'
And then there is the hybrid "Miss Thing."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Can you show us a link to that?
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
The link, dear TEd, is missing, of course.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
My grandma used to use the word chesterfield. She must have gotten the use from her first mom (her mom, who died when my grandma was pre-teen, was Irish) since it is not a very common way of calling a sofa here.
We generally use sofa and couch. In French, only sofa.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
Faldage sez: " If it's animate it's 'dude.'"
I take an oath, a person appeared in front of me in the court just the other day and referred to "the mail dude" which I took to be the person who delivers the mail. At least this term avoids the problem of gender.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
> this term avoids the problem of gender
well, maybe... dude is usually male, and there isn't really a good female version. dudette sounds like something a clarinet would say.
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500 |
referred to "the mail dude" which I took to be the person who delivers the mail. At least this term avoids the problem of gender. I say "postal person"" because I figure "mailman" is, homophonically at least, redundant. And I suffer from severe homophonophobia...... 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
"avoids the problem gender"
problem?
And now, the post:
Overheard on the subway: one of a gaggle of girls dressed in the ritual lime-green and pink of this season calls her friends "dudes."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
> calls her friends "dudes."
I sit corrected.
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500 |
And don't we use the term "guys" for both men and women, informally? I have friends who use "gynes" (hard "g") for women, and I kinda like it, although I'm not sure about "Guys and Gynes" as a musical...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
So a women's movement to clean up the environment would be gynecology? OUr would you call the ambiance around Bryn Mawr gyne-collegy?
TEd
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500
addict
|
|
addict
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500 |
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
One of the creeps in "Fox and His Friends" sells poor Fox, who is in over his head, a "tres-a-tres," a sort of pinwheel of three seats, an elaboration of that odd love seat with an s-shaped back and facing seats.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
<<"Divan" is one of the most complicated words I know>>
And on the lips of fallen belles impostured in the North, on the Great White Way, it had the ring once of deific metaphor of that something--anything--someone jaded less, less sordid sorrowed, might in broken memory have named: "Good" -- or she, the footlit ghost of that abandoned sister on fetid gulf, in all her fragile inwardness forever always, unpeeled, "It was, my love, divan."
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Saranita!  E.C., re: the use of "guys" to address both genders -- I have posted before, and I say again: I am not a guy, never have been and never will be one. Here (where I live), the proper term for addressing a group is you-all. MUCH more inclusive! (She said, being highly prejudiced.)
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
so it just dawned on me that the title of this thread is a B-52s reference. kudos to musick.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
and me without my jukebox money...
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
so it just dawned on me...
Would you like me zested? On toast points?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,819 |
no Anna I'll just have the chopped liver
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 2,661 |
so it just dawned on me...
Never look a gifthorse in the ear.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
Jackie writes: "I am not a guy, never have been and never will be one."
When, in the movie "Goonies", Sloth said "Hey, you guys!" he was addressing both males and females. And Sloth oughta know.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 322
enthusiast
|
|
enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 322 |
Jackie writes: "I am not a guy, never have been and never will be one."
Finally catching up to ... er, y'all!
I hope Jackie and I can still be friends. I commonly refer to my roommates (all of whom are women) as guys or dudes. Dudette is purely for comic effect. I've noticed, though, that I pronounce it doods, evenly though I usually say things like d(y)ue, d(y)uty and end(y)ure.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
I hope Jackie and I can still be friends. Not to worry--I have long known that Yankees have to be forgiven a lot...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
I'm doing some volunteer work at the regional ADA (Diabetic, not Dental) office, and I've been wondering about how to informally address this office full of women during breaks. I had just about worked up the courage to ask when the office manager (wait for it... a man) showed up for a luncheon meeting and started addressing them as "you guys".
maybe when I next get a chance I'll ask how they all feel about this.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
I don't think the Language Hat mentioned the Indonesian Dewan, which means Board or Council.
The Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia defines it as: a council or body consisting of several members whose work is to give advice or make decisions by means of negotiations.
A charity's Board of Management, for example, is the Dewan Pengurus.
Bingley
Bingley
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,065 |
Sofa, settee, or couch, pretty interchangeably when talking to native speakers of English. Sofa if talking to Indonesians in English, since that's what it's called in Indonesian.
I've heard of davenport or chesterfield, but associate them with couch-like antiques, and would never use the words.
Bingley
Bingley
|
|
|
|
|
