I was sat…

[TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross]

Just started a book on my Kindle - fortunately a free book - and the reporter was stood on the street corner; the protagonist was sat on her sofa…

One of my pet hates, so much so that I don’t know if I can finish the novel 😂

If she was Welsh, she would have been "sat sitting on her sofa" 😁

Would this be correct:

I was sat cross legged on the sofa

? thanks

So have the distinction between written and spoken English vanished? I'm asking as a non-native speaker. It was drilled into me that it was an important difference, unless you wrote the entire book/dialogue in vernacular language, such as Zora Neale Hurston's use of African American vernacular English in Their Eyes Were Watching God.

I remember this particular novel because the use of the vernacular took me a while to get used to.

I sat cross-legged on the sofa.

I feel the same way as OP but slightly ashamed that I do.
It’s ignorant in my view to think that there is something superior about standard English.

But I can’t stop myself.

“Was sat “ and “was sitting” are ubiquitous now. I’ve read both in quite literary novels and hear standard English speakers use them all the time.

Or "I was sitting cross-legged on the sofa"

Slough Grammar

Oh I do agree! It's so strange because very often the rest of the grammar is fine. You're lulled into a false sense of security when suddenly the poster delcares "we was on holiday..." (or whatever).

I take the view that language is a moveable feast to an extent BUT the thing is that this one is so bad that it changes the meaning. Who sat you there? Who plonked you down? Vernacular doesn’t trump accuracy.

There is if the rest of the novel is written in Standard English. I have no problem with characters speaking vernacular English in the dialogue of a novel, or if the narrative voice is speaking in the vernacular. However, neither of these was the case. Therefore, it’s just grammatically inaccurate.

I don’t think Standard English is superior. I think, in a novel that is written in Standard English, accurate grammar is superior to inaccurate grammar. And I’m not remotely ashamed of that.

I would hope ‘was sitting’ IS ubiquitous, since it’s correct.

I feel a bit like this. I have to will myself not to correct people. I mostly contain myself.

Being in the vernacular does not make it correct. It is no more correct than "I seen" or "I done" or "give that to Mary and I" or "recommend me a book".

No. Your position while sitting does not affect the tense.

I was sitting cross legged/upright/etc. on the sofa.

It is becoming more prevalent and I get the feeling it's for effect sometimes.

I don’t think Standard English is superior. I think, in a novel that is written in Standard English, accurate grammar is superior to inaccurate grammar. And I’m not remotely ashamed of that.
I would hope ‘was sitting’ IS ubiquitous, since it’s correct.

Yes, typo. I meant “was stood”
I don’t believe there’s anything “accurate “ about standard English other than that people believe it’s accurate. It’s just another version.

Spendy = expensive

Judgy = judgemental

Can people not spell the longer words?

I didn’t say that Standard English was “accurate”. I said that if an author writes a novel in Standard English, they should use accurate grammar. Or are you arguing that that should be no grammar rules and people should just string words together in whichever way they feel like doing in that moment? It might make communication rather challenging.

Imagine that we decided to believe that there was nothing accurate about the Highway Code and that actually it would be perfectly acceptable if everyone just drove on the side of the road they felt like driving on at any given moment; that the meaning of the different colours in traffic lights was arbitrary; that we could abide by the various speed limits if we felt like it but it didn’t matter if we didn’t…

TheOnlyLivingBoyInNewCross you’ve presented two very opposed alternatives i.e. that authors should use accurate grammar ( which means that there is an accurate grammar and anything else is inaccurate) or that without accurate grammar words are strung together however people feel like.
I don’t see it like that. Everyone uses grammar. Everyone’s language use involves following the rules they have learnt or adopted. We can’t necessarily explain those rules but we know and use them. One particular set of rules has been described as “standard English “ and is seen as accurate or correct and by some people as superior.
This hugely advantages those whose grammar and vocabulary is standard English and disadvantages others. I don’t think there is anything inherently better, more accurate or correct about standard English than other dialects, which is why I am annoyed with myself when I find I’m being pedantic about standard English rules.

This drives me to distraction. I hear it more and more now. How can people not hear how wrong it sounds?

They do in their writing, unfortunately. I hate it but I stopped commenting after my head of school (an English teacher) repeatedly told the children they’d ’better be sat down in the next 10 seconds and anyone who is still stood up will be in at break’. There’s no hope. Of course, one bright spark immediately came out with, ‘Miss, you said we can’t BE sat anywhere’ - cue embarrassment but secret relief that I’ve got through to one of them!

Nothing wrong with it! It's plain wrong. It's incorrect grammar. Just because a hell of a lot of people do it doesn't make it OK.

What would you say instead of 'Recommend me a book'?

For instance, if I said to someone, "Recommend me a book about Boudicca and the Iceni tribe' what would be wrong with that?

I'm fine with "I saw", "I did" and "Give that to Mary and me" but I don't see what's wrong with "Recommend me a book". There's an unspoken/unwritten dative case 'to' but I think we often leave out the 'to' when there's an indirect object as well as a direct object.

Can you recommend a book about the Iceni?

I'm interested in learning more about the Iceni - do you have any recommendations for books or authors?

You recommend a book to someone. It should be "can recommend a book about Boudicca and the Iceni tribe to me?", though the "to me" is a bit clunky so you could leave that out. You would use recommend me if you want to be recommended so can you recommend me for that job?

Recommend requires a direct object which is the thing/person being recommended so saying recommend me is basically saying that you are the thing being recommended.