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Couch, Sofa, Davenport, and Chesterfield

Vince in Norristown, Pennsylvania, is pondering whether the terms couch, sofa, and davenport are all regional terms for the same piece of heavy furniture. The short answer is that throughout the United States, the term couch is the most common, followed by sofa. The term chesterfield is more often heard in Canada, when it is heard at all. For an in-depth look at the wide variety of words we use for the rooms in a house and the objects in them check out Language and Material Culture by Allison Burkette. This is part of a complete episode.

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