So I’ve always used the two terms interchangeably, but it occurs to me that there might be some difference I’ve never learned about. Which term do you use and do you think they refer to the same piece of furniture?
I’d be more likely to say couch, but they mean the same things.
I think a two-seater is also known as a love-seat, but I’d still refer to it as a couch.
For no particular reason, I think a couch seats two, while a sofa seats three.
A couch that seats two is a love seat.
Couch, sofa and davenport reference the same furniture in my books. Davenport is like Kool-aid as in it’s a brand that became the name of a product.
Couch, sofa and settee are used interchangeably where I’m from (London).
It’s better to be a Sofa King than a Couch King.
I would use the two interchangeably.
My impression is that couch is the more general term, and a sofa is a type of couch. (Chaises longues, love seats, and récamiers are other types.) For example, “couch” (which derives from the Latin culcita, “mattress”) was formerly or poetically used to mean “bed, sleeping spot” (to rise from one’s couch).
Don’t forget “chesterfield.” Hey, I’m on the Ontario border and I had a Canadian grandmother. We just know these things, and only use them when we want to confuse non-Michiganders/Ontarioians.
(I’m always sure to have a serviette while eating on the chesterfield.)
My grandma used to call it a Davenport - is that you grandma?
then there is the versatile dual use furniture called a sofa-bed other wise known as the foldout couch.
A sofa and a couch are the same, but a loveseat is smaller.
Sofa and couch are as similar to each other as curtains, drapes and window treatments all are to each other.
Love-seats tend to be smaller. There is a difference. You’ll see it (feel it) if you sit on one and then on a couch.
Yes.
Sounds like I’ve been right all along. I feel vindicated! There was just that niggling part of the back of my brain going "people have been thinking you’re stupid for years!
I finally looked up what a chesterfield was when I heard the Bare Naked Ladies using it in song lyrics. I like to use it sometimes too and I am not Canadian and probably won’t ever be. It is cool term.
You can’t be a sofa potato though, or sofa surf …
People never say I am “couch king” stupid. But I get accused of being “sofa king” stupid all the time. Otherwise I always thought the two were 100% interchangeable.