Looking for some blanket-related words

[pne]

Two nagging gaps in my English vocabulary correspond to the German words Bettwäsche and Bettdecke.

The first refers to, essentially, all the material on a bed, but specifically the pillowcase and the cover of the Bettdecke, sometimes also to the fitted sheet. I’ve used bedclothes but am not sure whether this is the correct word. The PONS Illustrated German–English dictionary I bought partly for this suggests bed linen. Any suggestions from you?

The second word refers to something like this:

I’m temped to call this a blanket, except that I have a feeling that blanket refers to something woolen and in once piece, along the lines of this:

Not only are the things on our bed not woolen (since I’m allergic to dust mites, so I try not to use organic materials such as wool or feathers in our bed), they consist of an inner core (which is the thing that keeps you warm) and a cover around it. I don’t know, but the inner thingy doesn’t feel blanket-y to me.

The image of a made bed in the aforementioned picture dictionary has an eiderdown, and that word would feel appropriate to me if my Bettdecke actually had eider down in it, but it has no down in it at all.

So what is it? The words comforter, duvet, and doona also seem appropriate, but I’m not really sure what range of objects each word encompasses.

Hm… looking at the Google Images searches for Bettwäsche, Bettdecke, eiderdown, comforter, duvet, and doona, it seems that all the English words seem to be possible matches for what I have in mind. Doona seems to be an Australia-only word, though, judging by the domain names in the image searches. Maybe the choice of doona—duvet—comforter is a AU—UK—US thing?

Hm²… looking at the Wikipedia articles for quilt, duvet / doona / eiderdown, comforter, blanket, bed sheet, and bedding makes me think that perhaps comforter is the best word in this case, since apparently not only eiderdown but also duvet and doona imply a filling of down or feathers.

Still, comments are appreciated, especially when accompanied by the area of the world that shapes your choice of vocabulary, since I can well imagine that usage differs in England, Canada, the US, Australia, New Zealand, and other parts of the English-speaking world.

Comments

[lexabear.livejournal.com]

US:

Blanket is a general term for any warm covering (not sheets). A quilt is a blanket is specifically quilted - decorated by smaller pieces of fabric stitched together on the top. A comforter is any big, thick blanket, often, but not necessarily, filled with down. Doona is a word I've never heard. Duvet is one of those fancy words that I see in stores like Bed Bath & Beyond, but it's absolutely not in my productive vocabulary.

See also: afghan (http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=afghan+blanket) (a blanket that is crocheted or knitted). I don't know how general this term is outside of knitting/crocheting circles. Everybody would recognise 'quilt' but not everybody would recognise 'afghan' as referring to a blanket.

The general word for all this (sheets, blankets, pillows, etc) is bedding - this is the sign that hangs over that department in a store, for example.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

For me, a duvet is a comforter that has a duvet cover. This is an envelope created from two bedsheets sewn together that slides over the warm core. Many comforters also have covers which can be removed and washed, but the essential functional differences IME is that a comforter always lies on top of a top sheet whereas a duvet is generally the only covering on a bed (unless it's really cold and you're using another blanket on top of the duvet). Thus, a duvet cover needs to be washed weekly along with the bottom sheet whereas a comforter cover need only be washed once a month or so.

In the USA, I've always used the top sheet + comforter combo. In Germany, I had to get accustomed to duvets. In the summer, I would just leave out the warm core and treat it like a top sheet.

duvet vs comforter

[pne.livejournal.com]

Very interesting; thanks.

[tungol.livejournal.com]

Hm, apparently I don't make that distinction between comforter and duvet; there's an item on my bed that has a cover, and is the only covering on my bed, and I would call it a comforter (if I wasn't calling it a blanket, which is probably more usual for me.)

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

For me, it all depends on the context. If I were speaking in a general sense, I might say something about having to "sleep with a blanket" during the recent cool spell. But if I were talking about what's on my bed in any kind of specific sense (such as having the wash the cover), I'd probably say "my comforter".

Oh, and "afghan" seems to be generally recognised among my kith and kin. Except when I was completely on my own, I've always been in a household with at least one afghan and it is/was commonly referred to as such. (Often as "the afghan" when there's only one of them, as is the case at my boyfriend's.)

[fledchen.livejournal.com]

Actually, your definition of "quilted" is a common misconception. Many pieces put together are "patchwork". "Quilting" refers to the method of tying or stitching together multiple layers of fabric.

[lexabear.livejournal.com]

I would disagree. I've heard your definition of quilted (e.g., Quilted Northern toilet paper - they had those commercials where they had the cartoon ladies using knitting needles to 'quilt' their toilet paper until a lot of people complained and they got changed to sewing needles), but I've heard much more commonly quilt to mean the patchwork decoration (sometimes as "patchwork quilt" but more often just as "quilt"). So I would say "quilting" refers to both defintions A (mine) and B (yours).

[pthalo]

i use bedclothes myself, but linens also means that. for example, my mother keeps the top sheets/bottom sheets/pillowcase sets together in the linen closet. and linens encompasses all those things. but i'm old fashioned and i like bed clothes.

a duvet is when you have a big thick blanket sometime stuffed with down, yes, but i'm allergic to feathers so if i use them, i use ones that don't have feathers in them, but some synthetic material, and you put a sheet that has buttons over the big thick blanket so that it doesn't get dirty. i don't particularly like duvets because I find the blanket gets lost inside the cover and it gets all tangled, but i move around quite a bit at night.

i can't quite tell what that's first thing is a picture of. it looks blue and vaguely sheet-like, but i can't see things like how thick it is, or what part of the bed it covers or anything like that.

[pne.livejournal.com]

i can't quite tell what that's first thing is a picture of. it looks blue and vaguely sheet-like, but i can't see things like how thick it is, or what part of the bed it covers or anything like that.

I took two more pictures.

The thing is just a bit wider than the mattress and about as long, so it covers me from shoulder to toe when I sleep but doesn't hang down over the side. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pne/258579987/)

(with a packet of paper handkerchiefs as a rough size reference, though it's still difficult to see) I estimate that the thing is about 2 cm, or maybe ¾ inch, thick, including the cover. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/pne/258578655/)

[pthalo]

ah, definitely duvet then. :) in the first picture it had looked like it just covered the pillow case, so i got confused.

[nitaq.livejournal.com]

Your bed looks amazingly like my bed.
No duck here, but an Archer bear.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

IME, linens encompasses much more than simply bed linens. You also have table linens (e.g. tablecloths, runners, napkins, etc.) and bath linens (e.g. towels, washcloths, etc.). In the two-story houses where I grew up, the linen closet was generally on the second floor in or near the bathroom and held the bed and bath linens. (Table linens were kept in a buffet/sideboard/server/oh-god-let's-not-get-into-this-terminological-mess.)

The long and short of it is that if a department store had a sale on "linens", I would expect more than just bedclothes to be included.

[tungol.livejournal.com]

I second the broader definiton of linens.

from my perspective.

[weatherpixie.livejournal.com]

Quilt - Generally quilted - 3 layers wadding in between 2 layers of cotton, then stitched down through all the layers.

Eiderdowns were in the UK the forebears of Duvets but were thinner and without an outer cover.

Duvets these days don't always contain feathers, and may be acrylic filled.

Bed Linen normally refers to the sheets/pillows/duvet cover.

Bedspread - something that goes over the bed, but isn't any of the above (often crochet or other fabric)

Blanket - normally wool, goes over your sheet but under your bedspread or quilt in old fashioned pre duvet beds.

Comforter I think US rather than UK usage.

Re: from my perspective.

[pne.livejournal.com]

Ah, thanks.

Maybe duvet is the right word, then, if you say the filling need not be feathers/down, since I try to use UK vocabulary.

Another problem is that not everybody uses the same kind of bedding -- for example, I'm told that some areas prefer a blanket over a sheet, rather than a duvet in a duvet cover (is that the word? I would've guessed “duvet case”, I think), so they literally sleep between two sheets.

Here in Germany, though, you usually have a sheet only below you, most commonly a fitted sheet with an elastic that covers the mattress, while above you, you have a layer that's about as thick as a sheet but it's the bottom part of the duvet cover.

Re: from my perspective.

[pthalo]

In Hungary, it's generally one sheet below you one sheet above you. In the states it's usually fitted sheet on bottom (With elastic to hold it to the bed - this is unheard of in Hungary), top sheet (regular rectangular sheet), then any number of blankets.

i think both ways serve the purpose of keeping the blankets clean, whether you put the blankets in a case or you cover yourself in sheets underneath the blankets.

Re: from my perspective.

[weatherpixie.livejournal.com]

Your best bet is to take a look at something like argos, and see if you can work out what best matches the German thing.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Browse/catalogId/10001/identifier/8161307/Trail/C$cip=41700%3EC$cip=41740.htm

I think I'd call it a bedspread, duvets are generally heavier and puffier, tho saying that the summer weight one I have is quite thing. I think if it has its own cotton cover, its a duvet, otherwise it may be a bedspread or quilt.

And yes, its a duvet cover, but a pillow case.

[jpallan.livejournal.com]

Northeastern American U.S. speech refers to the Bettwäsche as "bed sheets". Bed clothes is less commonly heard.

The Bettdecke can be referred to as a "blanket" or a "comforter", comforter being how catalogue writers distinguished it from the thinner and often organic blanket. However, if you say "blanket", people will know what you're talking about. A duvet and a comforter are the same thing.

Bedding is a more general term, referring to the entire thing -- bedding includes comforters, blankets, quilts (traditionally handmade items of patched together fabric scraps, a filling of whatever, and a solid bottom), sheets, pillowcases, whatever.

[nassus.livejournal.com]

doona or duvet is generally a down or other filled thing with a cover that you can use instead of sheets and blankets. I think doona is a localised Aus thing (state specific colloquialism) - not something I use.
A comforter might be something like a light-weight blanket or just a cover on the top of the bed.

I think your bed-linen probably fits the first one.

[ubykhlives.livejournal.com]

Another Australian! :)

I agree, doona is pretty exclusively Australian, and limited Australian at that - I'm in Queensland, and I hear it often from other Queenslanders, but rarely from out-of-staters.

[nassus.livejournal.com]

Ah - that'd explain it then. I spent 5 years in QLD as a kid which would be why it's familiarish. I'm now technically SA'lian but living in Cambridge/UK just now.

[nyssa.livejournal.com]

No suggestions for the second question, as I use "blanket", and occasionally "comforter"...but I say "bed clothes" to refer to everything on the bed. Occasionally "sheets", but not usually if it has a blanket on top.

[lexabear.livejournal.com]

Oh, one more blanket word popped into my head. There's lately been a trend for throws (http://images.google.com/images?q=THROW+BLANKET&hl=en), which are lighter, smaller blankets, sometimes square rather than rectangular, and meant for chairs or couches and such instead of beds. I have one that's really comfortable and wear it instead of a sweater when lounging around. I also use it as a blanket, but I'm short and I tend to curl up when I sleep, so it still covers all of me - a taller person couldn't.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

When quilted, these are referred to as "lap quilts" by my kin. "Throw" is a word I recall seeing in catalogs and such, but it's not in my active vocabulary (though "throw pillow" is).

[sovereigna.livejournal.com]

I vote for bedlinen (or bedding) and doona's although that comes from the Australian habit and I'm always getting corrected here and told it's a 'duvet'! lol.

Your blue 'thing' would depend I think on whether it had a removable cover. It if it does, it makes it a doona/duvet if it doesn't it makes it a comforter or eiderdown or quilt (depending on what it's made of). Comforters always seem to be the synthetic ones, eiderdowns the ones with feathers or synthetic feather like things, and quilts seem to be the divided ones with the synthetic wool-like materials. Blankets to us are just that.. blankets and we always had them over our sheets and under our quilt/ bedspread. (Bedspreads are flat on the top of the matteress, fall down the sides of the bed to the floor and often have a fold over bit at the top where the pillow slips underneath and the bedspread folds down over the top of the pillow). When we wanted an extra blanket or a blanket to use with a doona, they would just sit on top of the bed folded up at the bottom during the day.

As you know my first name, guess what one of my most obvious nicknames is? lol

[pne.livejournal.com]

Your blue 'thing' would depend I think on whether it had a removable cover.

A bit difficult to answer.

The blue 'thing' is the removable cover. Inside is a plain white 'thing' which is what actually keeps me warm, and is intended to be used inside such a cover, but doesn't come with one when you buy it. Instead, you buy a separate cover (or several sets, so you can rotate them when washing one) that you tuck the warm thing into.

I suppose that makes the white thing a doona/duvet, the blue thing a duvet cover, and the entire assembly... a duvet as well?

This arrangement (warm thing inside cover thing, purchased separately; the cover thing being removed for washing and possibly a new cover put on the cover thing, depending on how many covers you have and how quickly they dry) seems to be the norm in Germany for bedclothes.

As you know my first name, guess what one of my most obvious nicknames is? lol

"Mrs Donnolly"? :)

[pne.livejournal.com]

...new cover put on the warm thing...

[sovereigna.livejournal.com]

hmmmm, no. Doona :p
Perhaps you just need to be Australian! lol

and yeah, I'd say your blue thing is a doona/duvet :)

[nitaq.livejournal.com]

This Bettdecke thing has been puzzling me as well.
But I've come to the conclusion that Germans use a different kind of bedsheets than Brits and Americans, so there probably won't be a perfect translation.
The one thing I couldn't get used to is probably having a Bettlaken which is only wrapped around a normal Decke, which is what american beds look like to me. I think I'd get entangled all the time.
lt_black_fire uses duvet if we talk about german Bettdecken, but I'm not sure if it is exactly the same thing.

Pronunciation of "duvet"

[pne.livejournal.com]

How do (the two of) you pronounce "duvet"?

Dictionary.com says (http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=duvet) "doo-vey" and "dōō-vā'", while Wikipedia says (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Duvet&oldid=7347435) "DOO-vay".

(I thought it was "DOO-vay", personally, but the two citations in dictionary.com made me unsure. Maybe both are possible, as with garage, which can be GA-ridge, GA-rahj, GA-rahzh, guh-RAHZH, guh-RAHJ, and possibly others.)

Re: Pronunciation of "duvet"

[nitaq.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about the difference between vay and vey. If I had to decide I'd go for the vey.
Just like I'd pronounce hay.
But I've learned that word from her, so I wouldn't know.

Re: Pronunciation of "duvet"

[pne.livejournal.com]

Ah, sorry about the confusion.

My main question was whether it's stressed on the first syllable (DOO-vay) or the second (doo-VAY).

Re: Pronunciation of "duvet"

[nitaq.livejournal.com]

I think she says DOO-vay, but I'll ask her.
I guess it's a bit like parfum in german. You can either say parfuem or try your best to pronounce it with a french accent.
duvet seems to me as english as parfum is german.
Btw. do they spell it different now? As if I cared...

Re: Pronunciation of "duvet"

[arthur-sc-king.livejournal.com]

In my Canuckistani experience, it's doo-VAY (rhymes with "hay" or "may"). Dunno if I've ever heard the accent on the first syllable....

Re: Pronunciation of "duvet"

[tungol.livejournal.com]

The pronunciation of "duvet" that I'm familiar with is stressed on the second syllable.

Canadian here

[tungol.livejournal.com]

I would probably call the stuff you put on your bed bedding, but both bedclothes and bed linens would not strike me as odd.

I would use the word blanket both for one-piece articles and for ones with a cover, but if I needed a more specific word for the two-piece kind I would probably use comforter. However, I have such an item on my bed (it has feathers in it), and I normally just call it a blanket. Preferring blanket to comforter may be a personal idiosyncrasy of mine - I think I hear comforter from my mom more regularly than I use it myself; I am not certain, though. Duvet is a semi-familiar word to me; I wouldn't use it and wouldn't know exactly how it was similar to or different from a comforter. I'd know that eiderdown included feathers, but I wouldn't use it for something containing feathers. The word doona is new to me.

Another Canadian data point

[arthur-sc-king.livejournal.com]

Bedding is probably most common for the catch-all for sheets/blankets/quilts/pillowcases/whatever. Bedclothes is something a very old person might say, such as a surviving war bride from England. Bed linens is what a fancy store might say (e.g. the Bay's "Home Outfitters" stores).

Blanket isn't necessarily woolen, but is often "fuzzy" (I have "blankets" at home that are "fuzzy" polyester, for example). They're always one-piece, and seldom "filled" with anything other than a thin layer of cotton batting. Quilt can mean a "blanket" made of two thin layers of cotton/polyester/whatever "sheet" with cotton batting in between and "quilted" (i.e. with the appropriate stitching, or "tied" with bits of yarn at regular intervals). But it can also mean a patchwork quilt.

Comforter can mean a duvet with or without cover. However, I've seen an alternate specific use of the word "comforter" meaning a large blanket or quilted blanket that's meant more for snuggling in front of the fireplace/TV on a cold day/night than for bed use. Sometimes these are made almost like sleeping bags, in that you can crawl right into them.

Duvet means a thick "blanket" filled with down or some sort of synthetic fill (for those like my wife who are allergic to feathers etc.). One could use it without a cover, but washing them is difficult/expensive, so it makes sense to have a cover which you can then wash. Older people (esp. British) would call them "eiderdowns", because they were originally filled with down from eider ducks. A few people out here in British Columbia call them "daniadowns", because there's a chain of stores called "Daniadown" that has been selling duvets here for decades and really popularised them out here.

For background, I was born in Toronto, lived in/near Ottawa from infancy to age 7, lived in Yellowknife NWT from age 8 to 38, and lived in British Columbia since (along with two stints in university, ages 18-21 and 26-28). So you can't really "pin down" any specific "dialect" of Canadian English to me (although I say a few words like "yes" much as a Cape Bretoner would, what with my dad being from there and spending many summers there).

[kait-the-great.livejournal.com]

Eastern Ontario, with a mother with maritime influence:

Bedclothes: not often used, but understood to be everything that isn't pillow or mattress on a bed.

Your first picture - duvet, since there's a cover over a core.
Second picture, and anything not very thick - blanket
Any blanket about 4 or more times as thick as that picture (or duvet-type thing without the cover/core ensemble) - comforter

Sheets - the fitted sheet and non-fitted sheet, sometimes also meaning the pillowcases.

Never heard of a doona.

"Linens" to me means literally a kind of fabric used in high-end stuff - linen napkins, sheets, pillow cases. Collectively, a very fancy set of sheets or tablecloth/napkin set. I would never use it for the sheets I have for my bed.