From my Roseanne viewing, I believe that it is a couch in American English. In British English it is usually either a sofa or a settee. I prefer to say sofa, and I’m sure it marks me out as some social leper. My mam, a bit of a social climber, called it the suite - of the whole collection of pumped-up lounge chairs, and of the major player in its trio. The other chairs may be easy or arm, but the sofa/settee/couch is king. I’m sure there are far more names than these for lounging equipment. Please, enlighten.

- Garzo.

Garzo,

Here in the US, it’s normally a couch, though sofa isn’t uncommon. We have a sofa in the shape of a piano, called - not unreasonably - a piano sofa. Here, though, the flagship of the suite is often a recliner or La-Z-Boy.

Living-room seating is a serious matter. Our custom-padded, rocking, swiveling and fully reclining natural leather armchairs are masterpieces of engineering for the hedonist. Two of them cost almost the equivalent of a small car.

Makes it very easy to doze in front of the TV after a rough day at the funny farm.

- PW

For me, a chesterfield is something worn to and from white-tie evenings.

I noted the orientalist spasms: ‘ottoman’ and ‘divan’. Can these words be used to refer to any sofa, or are they more piece specific? The suggestion is that the ‘ottoman’ is backless, and the ‘divan’ may be the same.

I tend not to see many recliners in people’s homes around here, and I don’t own one. They tend to be the preserve of the zimmer-frame set.

What about a footstool? I knew it as the, unfortunately named, poof. Or even the hoof-poof.

- Garzo, care to join me on the divan?  :-*

Pouffe, hassock and tabouret were words turned up in the thesaurus rex for footstools.

‘Cause, life is a tabouret, old chums!

- Garzo.

For some of us a tabouret is a movable drafting or art supplies cabinet. (Also known as a trolley to those Other english speakers.) : :D

gailr
Put down the drafting, the paint and the plume. Time for a holiday.

To my knowlege, the ottoman (other than the empire) is like a large footstool.
The word chesterfield took me back to my childhood as chesterfield was what my grandma used to call the sofa.
I think she stopped when the advertisments for Chesterfield cigarettes came out and we started singing the jingle every time she told us to sit on the, well you know.

Well, to my mind, a Chesterfield looks like this:

http://www.kingsgate.co.uk/sofa/page1/

An ottoman and a pouffe are essentially the same thing, really. No back. The difference, to me, is that the latter should never be placed in a closet.  

I have three footstools made firm enough to hold drinks

Hm. And here I though they were supposed to be firm enough to hold feet. No danger. Cheers!

‘Cause, life is a tabouret, old chums!

Brilliant!

-PW

Couch, sofa, chesterfield—English people use them all here, interchangeably, and not one word takes precedence over the other; at least not in our home.  

Now where did I put the remote?  On the sofa or on the little chair?

Best regards, Agorans!

P.S.  A remote is a TV channel changer.

Seeing as we’re on the sofa, I find ‘remote’ a little…well…too remote. I’ve called it a ‘doofer’ and a ‘zapper’ and a ‘flicker’. I know one family who call it the ‘weather’ - it’s easily changable.

What do you call one of those deep sofas (popular in hotel lobbies) with high back and sides, of equal height, which are seemingly tied to each other?

- Garzo.

[quote author=Garzo link=board=what;num=1088888625;start=0#10 date=07/04/04 at 17:29:35]
What do you call one of those deep sofas (popular in hotel lobbies) with high back and sides, of equal height, which are seemingly tied to each other?

Click on the "chesterfield" link on PW’s posting. I think they’re called chesterfields (or sofas, or couches or ...).