To mourn the loss of the word 'sitting' from English?

[UngratefulMoo]

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?

It's all participles, not just sitting. I was on a thread earlier where people kept saying 'I have ate'

It's something I sometimes overhear but I don't hear it in my daily comings.

He sat down as soon as he entered the room.
They were sitting quietly waiting for the announcement
She was sitting down as she watched the sun rise
I sat quickly and made myself comfortable
The stewardess got everyone seated very quickly

They're sat in the living room watching TV - seems wrong but might not be in the context of regional/contextual usage. I don't say it but I couldn't put my hand on my heart and say it's wrong. Someone far cleverer than me would have to do that.

They only say it like that if they are badly educated or working class or something. We all know who will get the jobs in interviews who pass the posh test and say was sitting. Acid test so be very very afraid if you say "was sat" rather than was sitting.

It must be a regional thing- I never hear anyone using "sat" instead of "sitting".

I've heard it in Scotland. I don't like it but not as much I dislike people talking about keeping their clothes in a 'draw', and I reserve my full bosom hoiking for shops that abuse apostrophes.

I am Scottish and live in Scotland. I don't hear that term used here.

YANBU.

I love how language is an alive thing and does change, but I fail to see how this is a positive change.

Ditto 'I text him' used in the past tense and 'I hurted my back' (gah!!).

I still use sitting. I think.

I have spent 7 years trying to get DH to stop saying tooken. For taken.

I'm in Central Scotland and I hear 'I was sat there' all the time btw

The thing that bugs me about using 'sat' incorrectly is that it is usually used in something like 'I'm sat here in tears'. So commenting on it would be really churlish.

Is this right:-

The waiter sat me at the table by the loos sounds wrong.
The waiter seated me at the table by the loos sounds better, I think, if undesirable!

I was sat at the table near the loos by the wedding planner is ok (maybe).

I sat down is good though.

Sat is past tense so how can you use it with the present tense of to be (I am)?

Getting confused now....!

I too love the variety of the English language, but it irks me if it's lazy.

My mother has a habit of using the work "went" instead of "gone- ie "He has went to the shops", worse was that my kids started saying it too!!

I hate this too. I have spent years of listening to assemblies where the children are asked "are you sat up straight? ". I am now a leader of assemblies and I'm sure no one notices my slight smile when I ask them if they are sitting up straight!

Draw instead of drawer and Mac and cheese instead of macaroni cheese make me grind my teeth.
Communal garden variety when they mean common or garden just makes me smile.

Maybe people don't read books so they don't see the words written down.

I see "I have went" and similar regularly on here. Never heard it in real life.

Completely with you here, OP. I hear it on the BBC too, which is awful, as you'd think they'd know better.

I think it's a northern thing, originally - "I was sat there", "I was stood there." But now it's everywhere.

I think people should go back to "seated", which is the meaning people are trying to convey when they say "sat", as in the famous Arthur Sullivan song that goes: "Seated one day at the organ..."

I don't hear people using sat instead of sitting.

I live in the north east.

Sat is used a lot up here, although I can't say I pay much attention!

We also seem to refer to things as 'me' rather than 'my' which makes me laugh.

Get off me chair. I was eating me tea. I'll tell me mam.

It's a northern thing.

YANBU.

But I try to be tolerant. I just assume that people who use 'sat' when they mean 'sitting,' or 'of' when they mean 'have,' are not very well educated. Or under-privileged, or not very bright. They probably can't help it, so it's rude to point it out.

It's not a class/regional thing from my perspective - I work with lots of posh, well-educated young things, and they all say it.

And let's not even get started on the trouble I'm having trying to teach my husband the difference between lie, lay and layed/laid.

OP it drives me mad as well. I first noticed my mother-in-law saying it (she lives in the North if that's relevant) she would alway use sat rather than siting. However recently I have noticed used increasing in the South and now even newsreaders use it.

My mother-in-law also uses lots of abbreviations which grate as well. (Though I would never offend her by saying this.). DH is a different story. He used "smellies" yesterday. Aarrgghh!

And aarrgghh again at all the typos above. I'm on my phone.

You're right chimney I was poorly educated as a child and grammar is not a strong point but even I know that I'm saying things wrong and it sounds common. It's sort of my mother tongue, it comes out then I cringe at how awful it sounds

YABU to "mourn the loss" of a word.

YABU to use the wrong topic. Pedants Corner is over there.-->