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13 June 2006

AskMecha King, Queen and →[More:]Full? Double? Why isn't "that" size of bed called a Jack?

It's questions like this that keep me up at night.

post by: deborah at: 13:53 | 28 comments

The only one I care to know is 'California King.'

posted by Miko 13 June | 14:00

Um, because the King and Queen sizes aren't based on cards. More like thrones. Can't explain why there aren't Prince and Princess sizes, though. Maybe there used to be, and they got switched to less prissy, generic terms.

posted by me3dia 13 June | 14:02

Full/double came first - waaaaay before king and queen. Back in the dark ages there were only twin and full/doubles. Then people were all like, "Hey, I love you and all but do you have to be all up in my grill while I'm sleeping?" so king size and queen size were invented. And people were happy. So the real question is, if the one size is called double, shouldn't the next sizes be called triples and quadruples?

Or if the one size is called twin, shouldn't the subsequent sizes be triplets, quads, and quints?

posted by iconomy 13 June | 14:05

Back in the old days, we slept on sacks of potatoes. And we liked it. Damn kids.

posted by cmonkey 13 June | 14:17

At least YOUR sacks were filled with potatoes! Back in my day, our burlap sleeping cushions were filled with nails and broken glass!

posted by kyleg 13 June | 14:26

My sleeping cushion is still filled with nails and broken glass.

*sob*

posted by I Love Tacos 13 June | 14:31

You have a sleeping cushion? We had a concrete drain. Spoiled brats.

posted by jokeefe 13 June | 14:33

So the real question is, if the one size is called double, shouldn't the next sizes be called triples and quadruples?

Doubles/twins are twice the size of a single. Are queens three times the size, and kings four? or are they just "a bit bigger," and "a bit bigger still"?

posted by PinkStainlessTail 13 June | 14:37

Back in the old days we didn't even get to sleep. Damned liberals!

posted by omiewise 13 June | 14:38

Back in my day, our burlap sleeping cushions were filled with nails and broken glass!

You had BURLAP!???

posted by iconomy 13 June | 14:58

What I love are the Queen pillows. My parents used to have them on their King bed. Extra-long pillows you can 'nuggle and throw your leg over (next best thing to a loved-one). Good for mock sex, too.

posted by Pips 13 June | 14:59

What I love are the Queen pillows. My parents used to have them on their King bed.

That's kind of unnatural, isn't it? Like ordering a Whopper and then some McDonald's fries, and a Frosty from Wendy's and then serving it as a meal. Very..transgressive. I like it.

posted by jonmc 13 June | 15:06

My antique iron bed is too short for a modern box spring. So we cut one down and nailed it back together. Don't wanna do that again, but need a new matress.

It's hard to shop for just a matress.

And isn't a queen just a smidge bigger than a full? I think I have a full, but buy queen sheets. Is this possible?

posted by rainbaby 13 June | 15:11

Full and queen are really close, but for some reason queen beds feel MUCH bigger than full beds. At least when you have more than one person in it. (And yes, many sheets come in a size called "full/queen.")

posted by occhiblu 13 June | 15:13

When I was a kid, my parents made me sleep standing up. In the hall closet. The shoebox shelf was my pillow. My mom said a bed was just one more thing to vacuum under. You lying-down-to-sleep people don't know how good you had it.

posted by mudpuppie 13 June | 15:17

Thanks occhiblu.

We're two people and a mid-sized dog on a tired old full. I want to get just a queen matress please!

posted by rainbaby 13 June | 15:18

Doubles/twins are twice the size of a single

They're actually not, and doubles aren't the same thing as twins.

Standard American sizes:

Twin/single: 39"x75"
Full/double: 54"x75"
Queen: 60"x80"
King: 76"x80"

I know this because I have to draw them in my little CAD drawings all the time...

posted by Specklet 13 June | 15:28

Huh. Learn something new everyday.

posted by PinkStainlessTail 13 June | 15:43

Well, I'll admit I had it pretty good with the burlap, but the only way we could afford that sack was because I had to work every day of my life since I turned two. I had a job as a night watchman and didn't get to go to bed until 6 a.m., and I had to be up at 4 a.m. to milk the cows and start the day's chores.

posted by kyleg 13 June | 16:03

I have a really hard futon, and it hurts my hip. Which is practically like sleeping on glass-filled burlap. Woe.

posted by Specklet 13 June | 16:06

For some reason, I read that last word in Specklet's post as a Billy-Joel "whooo-oo-ah!"

posted by occhiblu 13 June | 16:18

Now that it's summer, Specklet, you can sleep on the grass in the backyard!

posted by cmonkey 13 June | 17:09

Ah, the mosquitos will have a field day!

posted by Specklet 13 June | 17:14

Full/double: 54"x75"
Queen: 60"x80"

That six inches is very important, specklet!

What? My mum's bed is a full and we have to sleep in it when we visit. I lurve my queen size bed.

Does this mean I'm a size queen?

posted by deborah 13 June | 17:26

But that five inches extra length is even more important, because on a double bed, my feet hang over the end.

posted by dg 13 June | 17:32

I never said it wasn't! I know ALL about those important 6 inches. And I own a queen (-sized rock hard futon) and wouldn't trade it for a luscious full-sized matress.

posted by Specklet 13 June | 18:37

Back in the dark ages there were only twin and full/doubles.

You could be right. But in The Zero Effect, Bill Paxton gives a whole speech about the history of the full bed, and he suggests otherwise. The gist is that the full bed is a fairly recent invention. It could have been just something the writer made up, though.

posted by bingo 13 June | 19:18

Bill Paxton

It was Bill Pullman in Zero Effect. Paxton was in Twister and Weird Science and that movie about the demon killing father and his two boys where Powers Booth gives the beat-down to Matthew McConahoweveryouspellit. They're fairly easy to mix up though.

posted by LeeJay 13 June | 21:53

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