# What is it - a couch or a sofa? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 15, 2002, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398 "2002-03-15T02:22:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nightsong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nightsong/32/3083_2.png) [@Nightsong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nightsong)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/21 "2002-03-15T17:01:31Z")
Mmm. I tend to use ‘sofa’ when referring to the butt ugly, sags in the middle, should have died with the 70’s kind of thing. 😃 ‘Couch’ tends to get for anything else. However, it’s always a ‘sofa sleeper’ or sometimes ‘sleeper sofa’ if it’s got a pull out mattress. Never a ‘couch sleeper’ or ‘sleeper couch’. (I moved a lot when I was younger [sub]Heck, I still do…[/sub], so you could consider my ‘location’ to be pretty much the entire U.S. with the expection of the East coast.) * * * \<\< You say to-ma-to, I say to-mah-to. \>\> ---
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/22 "2002-03-15T17:50:25Z")
Born in Canada, where I learned chesterfield, but since I’ve been in the states (after age 4), it’s been couch, always couch. Never sofa. ---
**Author:** ![scout1222](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/34f0e0/32.png) [@scout1222](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scout1222)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/23 "2002-03-15T18:43:10Z")
**Jess** , we must be related. My grammie used to call the couch a “davenport”, and always called her purse a “pocketbook”. For my money, it’s a couch. I can’t recall ever using any of the other terms anyone has mentioned, although I think they are all appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![Nortia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Nortia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nortia)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2002, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/24 "2002-03-15T20:34:49Z")
What **Tansu** said. ---
**Author:** ![Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@Kilvert\_s\_Pagan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilvert_s_Pagan)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/25 "2002-03-16T00:09:37Z")
I use either couch or sofa - sofa if my speech impediment is acting up. My grandmother used to say “Davenport”, and I only learned about “Chesterfield” from reading Richard Adams. Frank Zappa’s “Sofa #2”, which is sung in German (except for phrases like “chrome dinette” which allow the speaker to work up a good throatful of phlegm without having to even _speak_ German) simply would not be the same if it were “Couch #2”. All the drama - all the BEAUTY of the song would be ruined…:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Silver\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Fire)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/26 "2002-03-16T00:17:10Z")
Couch. Soda. That is all. ---
**Author:** ![Ferrous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Ferrous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferrous)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/27 "2002-03-16T00:45:54Z")
My couch is a couch, except when it’s folded out. Then it’s a sofa-bed. Here in Portland there is a street named Couch. For some odd reason, the locals insist it’s pronounced “cooch”. That’s one local custom I will _not_ be adopting. If it’s spelled couch, it should be pronounced couch, dangit! ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/28 "2002-03-16T01:00:18Z")
We use couch or sofa interchangeably. Love seat is the short one. Settee is where we sit aboard our boat. My grandmother called hers a “teak” - but only the one in the “front room”. I’m guessing it referred to the wood, tho I don’t think it was made of teak. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/29 "2002-03-16T05:04:49Z")
It’s a couch because a sofa is something you’d have in…well, maybe those old mansions down in Newburyport(RI), since calling something that cost more than I make in a year a couch doesn’t sound right, but that’s the only exception I can think of. ---
**Author:** ![ringmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9e8a1a/32.png) [@ringmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ringmaster)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/30 "2002-03-16T05:12:11Z")
I call it a couch. Who needs all those extra words. ---
**Author:** ![ringmaster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9e8a1a/32.png) [@ringmaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ringmaster)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/31 "2002-03-16T05:13:57Z")
Little Rock, AR ---
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/32 "2002-03-16T05:30:44Z")
Couch. The ones that pull out are hide-a-beds. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/33 "2002-03-16T07:33:04Z")
For the majority of them, I’m happy to use either word, but in my mind there are two types, and if a unit clearly fits into one type or the other, then there’s a specific word for it: if they tend towards being maybe a little longer, thin cushions, and with wooden arm rests (or with some of those characteristics), they are definitely couches; if they are shorter, but soft, richly padded, and luxurious, they’re definitely sofas. To me, a couch is long enough to lie lengthways on if you need to. That’s not so important with a sofa. I call 'em lounges too, if I’m feeling that way inclined. Sometimes I even call mine Dave. By the way Canucks, isn’t a Chesterfield a specific _style_ of cofa or souch? You guys use it as a generic term? Cool. Didn’t know that. ---
**Author:** ![AbsolutelyStark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/278dde/32.png) [@AbsolutelyStark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AbsolutelyStark)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/34 "2002-03-16T09:05:28Z")
I used to call it a sofa, but now I usually say couch. Or “the sitting on thing”. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/35 "2002-03-16T13:22:03Z")
When my sister-in-law gave me her old rosewood sofa a few years ago, my (then) 3-year-old niece informed me that, “A sofa is a couch with accessories.” (SIL said that the child was quoting a decorator friend of hers.) ---
**Author:** ![Teacher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Teacher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacher)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/36 "2002-03-16T16:15:37Z")
I grew up in an era when that piece of furniture in the living room was a ‘chesterfield’ which I understand to be a mainly Canadian term for a sofa. A sofa (contempory term) usually has an upholstered back and arms. A couch is usually a piece of furniture on which you would sleep. The word couch used as a verb means ‘to recline or lie down’, even ‘to lie in ambush’. Obviously the furniture dealers have blended the terms when they refer to the ‘sofa bed’. Ultimately, I guess it depends on what your particular use for that piece of furniture happens to be. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/37 "2002-03-16T19:17:23Z")
Well, I always celled it a sofa. After all, there isn’t a song about couches, is ther? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2002, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/38 "2002-03-16T23:20:21Z")
A couch and a sofa are two seperate concepts. Having trouble differentiating? Look at the furniture in question– Does it look like it is designed to have a nap on? It’s a couch. Does it look more like the maker was thinking about folks perched on it, engaged in witty repartè? It’s a sofa. Couchè or sophistry? What I want to know is what the piece of mock-swedish warehouse crap in my front room is – it clearly doesn’t fit into either category – I think it’s more of a “rack” than anything. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/39 "2002-03-17T01:28:07Z")
It used to be a Poof. Now, it’s a futon. 😃 I agree with **Larry Mudd**. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2002, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398/40 "2002-03-17T01:57:44Z")
I’ve always called it a sofa. Probably because in Spanish it’s a . . . sofa and that’s what my grandmother spoke 2/3rds of the time when she was speaking English. So I often say things like “turn the voice down on the T.V.” because in Spanish it’s “la voz” which translates to “the voice”. Not that I speak Spanish all that well. Um, so. . . sofa. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-it-a-couch-or-a-sofa/98398.md?page=1)