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Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 1,692
Pooh-Bah
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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
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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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."
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 3,467 |
Can you show us a link to that?
TEd
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
The link, dear TEd, is missing, of course.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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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.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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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.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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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...
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Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 500
addict
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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...... 
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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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."
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
> calls her friends "dudes."
I sit corrected.
formerly known as etaoin...
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