bed linen

[mint]

I'm looking to replace some bed linen that has seen better days and sheets that have already been patched here and there.

Needless to say, I am looking at my favourite shop, leboncoin.

Seen some scrumptious old sheets, etc, some beautifully embroidered, and in linen or cotton.

Just need to get the language right.

So, here goes:

housse de couette = duvet cover

drap plat = flat sheet

drap housse = ?

parrure de lit = whole set of bedding including top and bottom sheets and/or duvet cover plus pillow cases

Also, if it says for 2 personnes, what sizes would you expect the sheets to come in?

I like the bottom sheets to be a generous size so that I can tuck them in securely.

Please tell me if my guesses at the meanings of the terms are correct and please tell me if sheets for a double bed come in more or less universal sizes?

I shall have to be careful and ask for dimensions as some of the linen is "anciens" and I suppose that beds could be different sizes to our modern ones!

If there are other terms I should know about, please tell me those also.

Many thanks.

[NormanH]

I think a drap housse is the sort of fitted sheet that goes on a mattress

http://www.laredoute.fr/achat-linge-de-maison-drap-housse.aspx?categoryid=68539731

Some standard sized are also shown there

 

[Loiseau]

A drap-housse is indeed a fitted sheet.

Old French double beds can be a bit small to modern eyes - i mean smaller than standard 4'6" (whatever that is in metric), and even might be shorter. So I'd say it's imperative to work out exactly what measurements would suit you.

Angela

[Chancer]

Old French double beds are 1.3m wide, a tad wider than a UK four foot bed, I believe that the height is unchanged.

I have seen parure de lit sets sold in the Arab market and am still not quite sure what they are, they appear to contain an embroidered quilted bed cover like we used to call an eiderdown and also covers for those bed bolster thingies.

When I first needed to buy bedding in France after moving up from a sleeping bag on stained and smelly floorboards (dogs were locked in the rooms) I made the understandable mistake of asking for literie and found myself offered all shapes and sizes of bed legs!!!

[Loiseau]

Yes, parure seems to mean various things.

Can be duvet cover and two pillowcases, or can be bottom sheet as well. Or i think it can mean a sort of bedspread and matching over covers for the pillows. You need it specified before deciding whether to buy.

Angela

[mint]

Thank you for all your helpful replies.  Will definitely check sizes.

Also when an item says it's "métis", I have worked out that it means a mix of materials.  I don't mind linen and cotton; in fact would love that but definitely not cotton and polyester or any type of synthetic material. 

BTW, is "métis" as applied to human beings perjorative or not?

[idun]

King Size UK duvets are approx 230x220 and king size french ones are 240x220, so the french covers are a little bigger in France and UK king size swim around in them, a pet hate of mine!

Watch out for fitted sheet depths too, as they need to go around your mattress and can be pretty mean dimensions.

 

3 Suisses are doing Le Blanc at the moment, you could get yourself some bargains??????

 

It is interesting that Le Bon Coin are selling bedding, as a lady I know used to tell me that she couldn't give her old bedding away. Her offspring didn't want it. Whereas I have most of my MIL's old bedding. Not that I used it as bedding perse. I use the thick sheets as mattress covers and the rest has gone as rags.

[NormanH]

BTW, is "métis" as applied to human beings perjorative or not?

I don't think so. It seems to me to mean mixed race, but not in the human equivalent of 'mongrel', more of a statement of fact 

I have heard 'une belle métisse' to describe a very beautiful girl as a term of admiration.

Of course whether this would be considered racist or non-PC is a matter for discussion.

I am sure 5e or Clair or Frenchie might be able to confirm or deny what I say, which is just an impression.

---

[ericd]

[quote user="NormanH"]

BTW, is "métis" as applied to human beings perjorative or not?

I don't think so. It seems to me to mean mixed race, but not in the human equivalent of 'mongrel', more of a statement of fact 

I have heard 'une belle métisse' to describe a very beautiful girl as a term of admiration.

Of course whether this would be considered racist or non-PC is a matter for discussion.

I am sure 5e or Clair or Frenchie might be able to confirm or deny what I say, which is just an impression.

---

[/quote]

Words such as Noir or Metis aren't considered racisit if you describe a person....after all one has to distinguish amongst the crowd. Similarly, a person called a "Metis" wouldn't cause concern such as "Une belle Metisse". I was at school with many of them and all agreed, after all it was their skin colour....

However the same word can easily become an insult such as "Sale Noir, Metisse etc..."

 

[mint]

Merci, Eric.  Now, one further question as regards "métis" as pertaining to bed linen.  Does it usually mean that the sheets are a combination of cotton and linen?  I have found some where the advert says that they will help you to "bien dormir" when it's hot.

I certainly hope so as they are a generous size, are a snip at the price (as we say en anglais!) and have never even been used.

 

[mint]

Well, I'm getting there!  The lady has agreed to send them to me.  Two sheets that are "métis" and weigh 3 kilos, making the cost of the coli 9.50.

Wonderful bargain and I feel that, with the weight of them, they ARE likely to be cotton and linen.

It's not just the fantastic bargain prices, I feel that buying on leboncoin is more ecologique and I get a real buzz out of finding out where my lovely purchases come from!

This time, the address is très chic, from near Paris, one of those towns that say "sur Seine".  Me, I still get so thrilled looking up postcodes and addresses in France.....[:D]

[Clair]

[quote user="NormanH"]BTW, is "métis" as applied to human beings perjorative or not?

I don't think so. It seems to me to mean mixed race, but not in the human equivalent of 'mongrel', more of a statement of fact 

I have heard 'une belle métisse' to describe a very beautiful girl as a term of admiration.

Of course whether this would be considered racist or non-PC is a matter for discussion.

I am sure 5e or Clair or Frenchie might be able to confirm or deny what I say, which is just an impression.[/quote]

Because of my mixed-race background, I have been described as métisse  or métissée frequently, though not for a while.

I have never taken it as an insult, but I cannot say if it was ever meant as one...

[sid]

Whenever new words come up like this (which is frequently for me!) I look them up in my huge Oxford Hachette dictionary which seldom lets me down:

Métis -isse

A adj 1 [famille, enfant] mixed-race (épith); [animal] hybrid, crossbred [plante] hybrid;  2 [toile] union (épith)

B nm, f (personne) person of mixed-race

C nm inv Tex cotton and linen cloth; en ~  made of cotton and linen

 

 

[ericd]

[quote user="sid"]

Whenever new words come up like this (which is frequently for me!) I look them up in my huge Oxford Hachette dictionary which seldom lets me down:

Métis -isse

C nm inv Tex cotton and linen cloth; en ~  made of cotton and linen

[/quote]

That answers Sweet's question. I must admit not remembering this word being used under this definition but we learn everyday.

[mint]

[quote user="sid"]

Whenever new words come up like this (which is frequently for me!) I look them up in my huge Oxford Hachette dictionary which seldom lets me down:

Métis -isse

A adj 1 [famille, enfant] mixed-race (épith); [animal] hybrid, crossbred [plante] hybrid;  2 [toile] union (épith)

B nm, f (personne) person of mixed-race

C nm inv Tex cotton and linen cloth; en ~  made of cotton and linen

 

 

[/quote]

Thank you muchly, Sid!

Alas, I bought the Robert Collins after comparing prices, comments made on the Forum, etc.  Was swayed by an offer on Amazon.

BTW, I continue to use the conjugaison site you gave me.  Homework involving any conjugaison issue is now a cinch!

[sid]

[;-)][;-)]

[mint]

The 2 bed sheets have arrived; very thick, very generous size, sort of the colour of unbleached cotton but feels like linen and smells a bit like flax (so that's linen, right?[:D])

Beautifully wrapped up with an inside plastic wrapping of one of those laundry bags you get in hotel bedrooms.  OH reckoned they were nicked from some hotel but he's like that, always got to try and get me worried as some sort of joke[:(]

Never been used, never been washed but they are so big that it wouldn't matter even if they do shrink a bit.

So there....that's my contribution to forum knowledge of bed linen!  Now going to get one of those parures de lit that are in embroidered cotton as I am feeling in need of pampering and a bit of decadence.

[NormanH]

I am not sure that your idea of decadence is anything like as exotic as the foetid imaginings of such old reprobates as WB [6]

[mint]

[quote user="NormanH"]I am not sure that your idea of decadence is anything like as exotic as the foetid imaginings of such old reprobates as WB [6]
[/quote]

Funny that, Norman, he frequently refers to you in roughly the same terms, does he not?[:P]

[idun]

Well as you have had skin problems, Sweet17........I'd be giving them a bloody good wash. Pleased that you are happy with them though![:)]