Couch potato

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Some information in this article or section has not been verified and may not be reliable.
Please check for any inaccuracies, and modify and cite sources as needed.

For other uses, see Couch potato (disambiguation).

A couch potato refers to a person who spends most of his/her free time sitting or lying on a couch. The stereotype often refers to overweight men who watch a lot of television, sometimes in their underwear, and sometimes drinking beer. Generally speaking, the term refers to a lifestyle in which children or adults don't get enough physical activity.

1 History
2 Health
3 Popular Culture
4 External links
5 References

[edit] History

The word first appeared in a December 1979 edition of The Los Angeles Times,^{[ 1 ]} and was entered into the Oxford English Dictionary fourteen years later. The exact origin of the term is unknown, but may relate to the habit of eating potato chips while watching TV.

Amongst Canadians, adhering to colloquial vernacular, the couch potato is referred to as the Chesterfield Spud or a Jon Whyte.

[edit] Health

Some studies have said that the "couch potato lifestyle" is a serious health hazard to its practitioners[1]; in the United Kingdom, a plan of the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit tied attempts "to combat the couch potato culture" to "[improving the U.K.'s] international sporting performance." [2]

Ten studies presented at the 2003 meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine suggested that there could be a genetic basis for the "couch potato lifestyle".[3]

[edit] Popular Culture

Various activities have been designed for the couch potato, including a type of investment portfolio ("Couch Potato Portfolio")[4], and fantasy football leagues.

Greyhound dogs, who are well-known for their sprinting ability but otherwise require little exercise, are sometimes called "forty-five mile per hour couch potatoes" by adoption and rescue agencies. [5]

Music artist "Weird Al" Yankovic's song Couch Potato (a parody of Lose Yourself by Eminem) describes him watching hours upon hours of television, "until [his] brain is numb, [his] eyes bloodshot."