settee

[panicmonger]

Is "settee" a common word in western countries?

(settee/sofa/couch)
Which one is the most common?
Thank you.

 

[bhaisahab]

Is "settee" a common word in western countries?

(settee/sofa/couch)
Which one is the most common?
Thank you.

"Settee" and "sofa" are both common in BrE.

 

[5jj]

'Couch' is too, IMO.

 

[riquecohen]

Is "settee" a common word in western countries?

(settee/sofa/couch)
Which one is the most common?
Thank you.

Couch and sofa are more frequently heard in AmE.

 

[5jj]

The http://www.americancorpus.org/ gives the following number of citations:
settee - 458
sofa -5,059
couch - 8,936

 

[5jj]

The figures for [bnc] British National Corpus are:
settee - 316
couch - 458
sofa 921

 

[Barb_D]

I can't recommend using it in the US unless you are an interior designer or something.

If you say to a normal person "Please have a seat on the settee while I get us something to drink" you'll sound a bit pretentious.

 

[bhaisahab]

The figures for [bnc] British National Corpus are:
settee - 316
couch - 458
sofa 921

I'm surprised about "couch", I hardly ever hear it.

 

[5jj]

I'm surprised about "couch", I hardly ever hear it.

You must be younger than I. Or perhaps from a higher social class;-).

 

[Ouisch]

The word "settee" isn't used much in AmE, other than by interior designers as Barb mentioned. And, in fact, a "settee" in the U.S. usually refers to a piece of furniture smaller than a sofa/couch - it's something more akin to a love seat. I'd read many books published in Britain that made reference to a "settee," and I'd always pictured a small, elegant piece of antique furniture. During my first trip to the UK I discovered that, along with "cooker" meaning a "stove" and "for hire" meaning "for rent", that to those wacky Brits a "settee" was just a plain old couch. :-D ;-)

 

[5jj]

wacky Brits

hmmmph!

or even::argue:, or::evilbat:, or , or possibly::snipersm:

 

[milan2003_07]

The word "settee" isn't used much in AmE, other than by interior designers as Barb mentioned. And, in fact, a "settee" in the U.S. usually refers to a piece of furniture smaller than a sofa/couch - it's something more akin to a love seat. I'd read many books published in Britain that made reference to a "settee," and I'd always pictured a small, elegant piece of antique furniture. During my first trip to the UK I discovered that, along with "cooker" meaning a "stove" and "for hire" meaning "for rent", that to those wacky Brits a "settee" was just a plain old couch. :-D ;-)

I'm not a native, as can be seen from my profile, but I work with tourists a lot and I hear this word quite often from English-speaking people. Of course I can't always be sure that only BE speakers use it, but I'm sure I've heard it from Americans several times. "Couch" and "settee" are often used to talk about special types of furniture intended for royal families and placed in our suburban palaces near St.Petersburg and Moscow. Maybe the word "settee" isn't often used by Americans, but it doubtlessly exists and is understandable.

And BE people aren't wacky They invented English, by the way, to which we owe so much

 

[5jj]

And BE people aren't wacky
Thank you:up:.

They invented English, by the way, to which we owe so much.
It grieves me to admit it, but we didn't invent it. We inherited a version of it, which we changed. Some of us went to other places and changed (or, in some cases not-changed) it. We Americans, Australians, British, Canadians, South Africans, New Zealanders and all the rest are joint inheritors of something that we have all adapted to our own needs. Speakers of Indian/Pakistani versions of English are sometimes mocked for what they have done with the language, but they have as much right to claim direct descent from Early English as the rest of us. It just so happens that the ancestors of the people who now live in England happened not to have travelled far. That doesn't make their version of the language any purer than any other.
5

 

[bhaisahab]

English has been spoken in India since the 17th century, about as long as in the US.;-)

 

[Tdol]

"Couch" and "settee" are often used to talk about special types of furniture intended for royal families and placed in our suburban palaces near St.Petersburg and Moscow.

Interesting because in the U/Non-U view of BrE vocab, sofa is U (upper class) and settee/couch Non-U.

 

[Ouisch]

I'm not a native, as can be seen from my profile, but I work with tourists a lot and I hear this word quite often from English-speaking people. Of course I can't always be sure that only BE speakers use it, but I'm sure I've heard it from Americans several times. "Couch" and "settee" are often used to talk about special types of furniture intended for royal families and placed in our suburban palaces near St.Petersburg and Moscow. Maybe the word "settee" isn't often used by Americans, but it doubtlessly exists and is understandable.

And BE people aren't wacky They invented English, by the way, to which we owe so much

I think I mentioned that "settee" would certainly be understood by Americans, it's just not very commonly used. I have elderly relatives who refer to the sofa as a "davenport" and their meaning is easily understood, but we still snicker behind their backs because it sounds soooo pretentious. ;-) And Fivejedjon can kindly rein in his snipers, I was only kidding about the overall wackiness of the British people. They had settees long before the U.S. existed, so they can call them whatever they want. ;-)

 

[Barb_D]

If this conversation continues, I may need a fainting couch!

(Mostly, I want a lifestyle in which a fainting couch as a piece of furniture would be expected instead of eccentric!)

 

[Tdol]

Better that than a casting couch. ;-)

 

[Barb_D]

Better that than a casting couch. ;-)

Is George Clooney the casting director? I may disagree!

 

[5jj]

Is George Clooney the casting director? I may disagree!

Fraility, thy name is woman.

:roll: