Posted under Tags
Chairs are usually defined by the presence of a back rest (and optional arm rests), while stools are defined by the lack of either. This definition holds across multiple English dictionaries like the Oxford Learner's Dictionary (chair vs stool), the Cambridge Dictionary (chair vs stool) and Merriam Webster (chair vs stool). Likewise for Wikipedia. which also notes the same distinction between chair and stool. All of these sources use the term "seat" for the umbrella term.
Our wikis do conflate the two though, but perhaps what we should do is to edit the wikis instead of implying one to the other.
NNescio said:
Chairs are usually defined by the presence of a back rest (and optional arm rests), while stools are defined by the lack of either.
This. Stools are also often three-legged instead of four-legged like most chairs, or tall and narrow (often with a built in footrest or rung) instead of short enough to comfortably place one's feet on the floor (see bar stool). They are visually distinct, and native English speaker wouldn't typically call a stool a chair or vice versa.
nonamethanks said:
Let's not be ridiculous. An armchair is a chair with armrests.
Would be nice if you wouldn't always reply from an arrogant up-high position. So, don't be so dismissive and try to ridicule the other person.
I come from a language where nobody would consider an armchair a regular chair but more like a small sofa/couch.
Languages differ, but I very much feel an armchair is a chair. There really isn't a good word to distinguish an upholstered chair like an armchair from an un-upholstered one in English though. A "loveseat" on the other hand in English isn't a chair at all (despite being halfway between an "armchair" and a "sofa").
There was a thing like this about walls too right? Where in English a wall can be interior or exterior, but in German it has to be either "wand" or "mauer". In Japanese "sister" has to be "older sister" or "younger sister" there's no good word that combines the two without adding additional meaning like "kyoudai / sibling". There are examples that go the other way too, where "yubi" in Japanese means both "finger" and "toe", but English doesn't have a good word to combine the two. Given the tag set is English though, I think we ought to go by standard English meanings and definitions though, even if they don't line up with all foreign languages, no?
I mean being flippant or condescending is never helpful, but a native speaker of a language has a pretty strong sense of what is and isn't correct with regard to words' meaning and usages. Going against those meanings and usages is only inviting trouble in the future.
I know people are dancing around the idea of wanting or not wanting an umbrella tag for seating in this thread, and the implications and mess that would come with that, but maybe it'd be useful?
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