AIBU?
To mourn the loss of the word 'sitting' from English?
UngratefulMoo · 18/08/2015 06:23
No one seems to use it these days. It's all, 'I was sat there', 'She was sat down'.... well, no, unless you were forcibly put there or instructed to sit by someone else, I think you'll find you were 'sitting' there.
Where has the word sitting gone, and am I alone, or unreasonable in pining for it?
drives me nutsLindyHemming · 18/08/2015 06:40
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AlpacaKitchenSink · 18/08/2015 06:49
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RolyPolierThanThou · 18/08/2015 06:51
I disagree. There is a subtle difference in meaning between sat and sitting (or at least there is in how I use it).
I would say 'I was sat there....' if I'm also trying to convey a certain degree of annoyance or unwillingness about it. 'I was sat there like an idiot, waiting for her to get back'. Or if the sitting is not the actual point of my story (the other action is. The sitting is incidental).
When I use 'sitting', it's more neutral. 'I was sitting on a deck chair, watching people go by, why what we're you doing?'
If there is a subtle difference in meaning, I think it's legitimate to use a different (even 'wrong', grammatically) word.
I get accused of pedantry all the time by my family but I'm an unusual pedant in that I think of language as a shared tool, used by consensus. Pinning words down to only how YOU think they should be used is futile. Words evolve (which is a good thing). Some come to take on more meaning or a subtle one, others lose it.
I'm happy to accept that perhaps one day, my way of speaking, my grammar or my vocabulary will sound outdated. If sitting becomes archaic, so be it (though it won't stop me using it, forsooth).
janetandroysdaughter · 18/08/2015 07:07
YANBU. I love how language changes (great post RolyPolier) but am wary of anything that reduces it, rather than expanding it, that generalises, and loses nuance rather than adding it. So RolyPolier's suggestion that 'I was sat' conveys a certain impatience is a very pleasing distinction from the calmer 'I was sitting' but both must live.
elementofsurprise · 18/08/2015 07:17
I think YABU unless it's come from the US. Nothing against those in the US, but hearing Americanisms in the UK just shows people spend more time watching TV than interacting with their fellow citizens. (ESOL excepted)
It's so hard to tell though. My grammar nazi radar has been broken since "literally" went haywire...
UngratefulMoo · 18/08/2015 07:21
Agreed that there is a difference in meaning. Sat implies passivity, as someone or something else has sat you there, so yes, that makes sense.
I don't think that's how most people use it though. I think it has become interchangeable with sitting. So I agree with Janetandroysdaughter that as a result we lose a shade of meaning from the language. Which is a shame.
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