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submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[-] [email protected] 78 points 1 year ago

Why on earth do Americans call a single bed ‘twin’?

[-] [email protected] 68 points 1 year ago

Because you can put two in a room.

[-] [email protected] 93 points 1 year ago
[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Need Mace Windu saying this to the Jedi Council

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Unfortunately, Mace is the council making stupid-ass decisions.

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Then call it a half twin.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

That makes no sense! I'd say that this greatly depends on the size of the room. Unsless rooms have standard sizes in the US!?

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[-] [email protected] 31 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

According to this:

https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/27810/why-do-americans-call-single-beds-twin-beds

In the 1950s, a single was as wide as the average person's shoulders. A twin was a single & a half. A double was two singles. A queen was a single & a twin. A king was 2 twins (or 3 singles). Nowadays, the single is forgotten, so everyone is confused. When I was a child in the 1950's, my bed was a twin and you could put two first graders in it side by side. My best friend had a single bed, so when I slept over at her house, I slept in her bed and she slept on the floor.

EDIT: I don't think that that's correct, though, because while beds have become larger, it sounds like the twin was very much around in the 1950s.

https://www.ebohemians.com/a-guide-to-antique-bed-sizes-understanding-the-history-and-variations/

Single beds, also known as twin beds, are the smallest antique bed size and the most common size for children’s bedrooms. They were widely used in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and measured around 39 inches wide and 75 inches long. However, some antique single beds may be shorter, measuring around 72 inches long.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

I heard it was because siblings shared rooms and they had two beds in the room, hence twins.

[-] [email protected] 72 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This is just the US btw. Here's the UK:

You basically never see emperor though

I think European sizes differ slightly too because IKEA duvets and bedding never quite agree with stuff from other shops

[-] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago

As a tall Dutch person, my bed is 220 long and 200 wide. Unfortunately Ikea only carries 200 long mattresses, so I need to go to specialty stores.

But luckily tall people problems are prevalent here, so lots of stores.

[-] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

I always just thought it was IKEA making sure you'd have to buy a bed, mattress and bedding exclusively from them.

[-] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago

Nah, here in Germany for example, the standard single bed is 90x200cm, the standard double bed is 140x200cm and the king size (although I’m not sure how it would actually be called) is 180x200cm and usually just uses two 90x200cm mattresses. Can’t say I’ve ever seen a larger bed.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

It’s the same in Sweden, which suggests it’s either an EU-wide standard or informally standardised (perhaps thanks to IKEA’s economies of scale).

The UK is presumably different because the Inselaffen like things being in round numbers of inches and they didn’t vote Leave to have 140cm double beds.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

As a non-English English-speaker, I just learned some German

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/Inselaffe

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

How is a king smaller than a queen...

[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

He likes big butts and he cannot lie

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

IIRC The queen would need space for kids or something like that

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[-] [email protected] 34 points 1 year ago

* Mattress Dimensions and Bed Sizes »in the US« – we can’t even figure out metric, there’s no way we would figure out simplifying mattresses …

[-] [email protected] 33 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Alaska kings sleep with 3 women.

[-] [email protected] 21 points 1 year ago

That's two dudes and two women.

[-] [email protected] 59 points 1 year ago

Alaska kings are open-minded.

[-] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago

But why are they all touching themselves?

[-] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago

Ecstasy kicking in.

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

one of them just has short hair

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I thought that was nanna? Hair in a bun.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I can't see their genitals. You must have one of those 8k gaming monitors

[-] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago

Where would one get one of those group sex mattresses? Asking for a friend.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

I've slept three to a king comfortably. Only downside is it gets very hot. Yes, both of those statements are double entendres.

[-] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

That fucker that invented the twin XL has earned the wrath of many college freshmen.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago
[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Because finding sheets that fit them used to be terrible. Even in a college town, you'd have very limited options. I expect this is much easier now that online shopping is a thing, though.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yeah.

But that's not an excuse to force 10-20 some percent of the population to hang their feet of the end of the bed (and yes 5 inches makes that much of a difference)

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Oh, I agree with you. I was just answering why many college kids disliked the twin xl mattresses. That doesn't mean they should quit using them in dorms.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Maybe it's too narrow?

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I would also like to know to why

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Because the college would tell you the dorm rooms have twin mattresses in them. So everybody shows up with twin sized sheets.

You can actually get fitted twin sized sheets to fit a twin-xl mattress if you fold the mattress a little when you put on the sheet.. When the mattress straightens out it compresses a little, and the sheets stretch a little. But you'll also find the weak spots in your sheets very fast.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Ahh, okay. Yeah, I've slept on twins and twin xls most of my life and I'm familiar with the sheet stretch, I just didn't realize colleges didn't differentiate when they told kids what they had.

[-] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

I don't know... We have a queen size, and it's big enough for me, my wife, my dog, and the occasional cat too. Not exactly roomy but still.

[-] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago

This just in; people are different sizes.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago

Also: dogs are different sizes

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Also: even sized dogs can take up varying amounts of space

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[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Yeah sure, but where is my girlfriend supposed to lay?

[-] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Probably not in that dude's queen bed (unless y'all are into that).

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

When my husband and i started dating we slept together in a twin. Now we sleep in a king with 2-3 cats, and a dog if there's a storm. Sometimes on vacation we have a room with a queen. Makes you realize how much space the animals take.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

My wife and I have 7 month old twins.

We all sleep on our queen size bed. We turned it side ways so our feet hang off the end.

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this post was submitted on 08 Jun 2024
198 points (91.9% liked)

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