It cannot continue.Īlas, there was another possibility. This cannot go on for you, even if it could go on for me, I said.It's not what I would have you see another moment, for the longer you live with this, the more like you are to live with anything. They came on, and I fought them again, setting their robes afire so that they screamed and fled to the safety of the waters of the canal. You'll like this piece of poetry, said Rabbit.īlasphemer, heretic! came a hiss from one.Demon idolater, pagan! cursed another. Is that where Stev Kimmer went? To Honshu? Why would that be his destination? They are and always have been English.Ĭhesterfields are still made in Manchester today and are very high quality and very expensive.You have not come to see the child, Afra Lyon, Isthia began immediately. In other words, it wasn’t made for lounging.Ĭathy Vergison – Chesterfields are most definitely not an “Ontario thing” at all. The original Chesterfield settees did not recline because the purpose of the settee was to allow a gentleman to sit upright. This was the original purpose of the chesterfield sofa with its characteristic deep buttoned upholstery, rolled arms, equal back and arm height and nail head trim. Apparently the Earl requested a local craftsman to construct a piece of furniture that would allow a gentleman to sit upright in the utmost of comfort allowing sitting without wrinkling the garment. Aside from being a much-admired politician and writer, patron of Voltaire, the Earl was a known trendsetter.
It is believed that Lord Phillip Stanhope, the 4th Earl of Chesterfield (1694-1773), commissioned the first leather chesterfield settee with its distinctive deep buttoned, quilted leather upholstery and low seat base. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the use of the word chesterfield was already used in England in the 1800’s to describe a leather couch. There are many opinions on the origin of the word “chesterfield” as a description of the item we now know as such. If anyone has any knowledge of the term, or anything remotely like it, please let me know at 16, 2017 at 10:05 pm She grew up in Detroit in the 1950s, and her grandmother used the term “dufo” or “dufoo” for a couch. While we’re on the subject, I recently received another “couch” question from a reader which is driving me slowly nuts. The term “Chesterfield” is also used for a type of long single-breasted coat, often sporting a velvet collar. It was named after the Earl of Chesterfield (a now obsolete title) in 19th century England, but the name is probably more evidence of clever marketing than any actual connection to nobility. “Settee,” yet another antiquated word for “couch,” is just a jocular form of “settle,” which as a noun used to mean “a place to sit.” The term “davenport” apparently comes from the name of a furniture manufacturer.Īll of which brings us to “chesterfield,” meaning a style of couch with upright arms, one of which may be adjustable to allow the user to recline comfortably. “Divan,” a term for “couch” your grandmother might have used, comes from the Persian “devan,” which originally meant “assembly of rulers,” but in English came to mean the padded platform upon which the leaders sat. “Sofa” comes from the Arabic “soffa,” which meant a raised part of the floor covered with carpets and pillows for seating. It’s a tribute to the natural human need to lounge that there are so many names for what we often call simply a “couch.” The term “couch” itself comes from the French “coucher,” meaning “to lay in place,” reflecting the original sense of a couch as a place for sleeping, not just sitting. How in the world can a trapezoidal monstrosity with a two-story “great room” rightly be called a “classic Cape Cod”? What makes a humdrum 1960s split-level eligible for the label “Colonial”? The ornate pillars some doofus erected in the rumpus room? The Early American foosball table? Mostly we just quietly make fun of the homeowners’ taste, but lately I’ve begun to wonder at the agents’ grasp of architectural taxonomy. Here at Go Figure Farm, we often spend Sunday morning watching a local real estate “showcase” on TV. I am wondering if you can tell me where the word “chesterfield” and, for that matter, “sofa” and “couch” originated. On the other, I am finding it particularly hilarious for my own personal use with friends. On the one hand, hearing my mom use it is like listening to a nail on a blackboard.
I now find myself in a fascinating love/hate relationship with word. Dear Word Detective: I’ve recently bought a new house and am getting ready to move my furniture, which has given my mom occasion to use (and even write out) the word “chesterfield” about a million times.
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