This site uses cookies. Some of these cookies are essential to the operation of the site, while others help to improve your experience by providing insights into how the site is being used. For more information, please see the ProZ.com privacy policy.
Cookie settings
translate
games with a nickel for stakes

Glossary entry

English term or phrase:

old boxmadresses, that were partly uncovered along the sides by the paired old fashioned - and not as one would expect stret

English answer:

mattress for a box bed and old fashioned cotton sheets

Added to glossary by Patricia Townshend (X)
Nov 17, 2007 19:28
16 yrs ago
English term

Sentence between ***

English Marketing Tourism & Travel
"doors that clattered in the draft; ***old boxmadresses, that were partly uncovered along the sides by the paired (!) old fashioned - and not as one would expect stretch - sheets;*** very poor pillows and duvets; only one armchair in a doubleroom; no airconditioning;"

Hi there,

can someone tell me what the sentence between *** means? What is a "boxmattress" in this context???

I think the writer is Danish.

Sorry for the subject phrase, but wouldn't know what to write.
Responses
3 +6 mattress for a box bed and old fashioned cotton sheets
4 +1 "box mattress" - a type of mattress
4 +1 old-fashioned mattress (neither foam nor inflatable) on top of box springs
4 the paired old fashioned sheets
Change log

Nov 26, 2007 08:51: Patricia Townshend (X) Created KOG entry

Nov 26, 2007 08:52: Patricia Townshend (X) changed "Edited KOG entry" from "<a href="/profile/738371">Patricia Townshend (X)'s</a> old entry - "Sentence between ***"" to ""mattress for a box bed and old fashioned cotton sheets""

Discussion

Bernhard Sulzer Nov 17, 2007:
"Paired, oldfashioned sheets" goes together - that's the ones used here and not, as one would (especially today) expect, the "stretch" kind. So, the text does not imply (IMO) that the stretch sheets (not used here) are oldfashioned - only the paired ones.
Sheila Wilson Nov 17, 2007:
But normally an unfitted, non-stretch sheet will cover the entire mattress too. This would be a cotton rectangular sheet that you tuck in around the mattress. Why a 'partly uncovered' mattress? I imagine the bed had not been properly made.
Andrea Re (asker) Nov 17, 2007:
Aaaaahhhh, it is what we (in the UK) call a "fitted sheet"!!!!
What's old fashioned about stretch sheets? I would have thought the opposite would be true....
Jack Doughty Nov 17, 2007:
A stretch sheet is not a mattress protector, it is the lower sheet of a pair, with shaped elasticated corners to stretch over the mattress. A plain lower sheet would not necessarily conceal all the sides of a box mattress, but a stretch sheet would.
Andrea Re (asker) Nov 17, 2007:
Hi there. I had seen these pictures, but are we talking about an inflatable mattress??

In any case, I can come up with something regardine the mattress. What I do not understand is the sentence as a whole. Were these mattresses ripped and the rip was only partially covered by a stretch sheet which I assume is some sort of mattress protector?

Responses

+6
32 mins
Selected

mattress for a box bed and old fashioned cotton sheets

A box bed is one that is in a wooden frame, usually with a wooden base. Would a box mattress be one that fitted onto that sort of bed. Like a foam mattress, squared at the corners? Also, I think the point is that these are NOT stretch sheets. They are the old fashioned cotton ones that perhaps are not fitted at the corners and therefore ride up, or perhaps are too narrow to tuck in properly at the sides.
Note from asker:
Of course, now I read that bit correctly, the sheets are indeed flat!!
Peer comment(s):
agree Bernhard Sulzer : Hi. How do you read "paired sheets"? Two (very "nonfitting") sheets of the same kind on top of each other ? ;-)
39 mins
thanks. Exactly - non-fitting and possibly but not necessarily the same colour as opposed to matching with one plain and the other patterned, if you know what I mean.
agree Deborah Workman : Yes, I picture this as one of those mattresses that sits inside a box frame (no box springs -- unless the mattress is really the box springs and not the mattress!) and the pair of flat (unfitted) cotton sheets are too small.
4 hrs
Quite so. thanks.
agree orientalhorizon
10 hrs
Thanks
agree V_Nedkov
15 hrs
Thanks
agree kmtext : Often built into the walls of a room - think old tenement flats with a bed in the kitchen. They're often enclosed by shutters for extra insulation. You'd have a bottom sheet on the mattress and a top sheet under the blankets.
1 day 13 hrs
Thanks. Still do have such sheets in this part of the world!
agree Alfa Trans (X)
14 days
thanks
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "Thanks Patricia and thanks to all the others for their help!!"
+1
4 mins

"box mattress" - a type of mattress

Looks something like this:

http://www.thegorgeoutdoors.co.uk/acatalog/Airbeddouble.jpg

The writer is describing a room, where this mattress is located, also listing various other things and objects.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 6 mins (2007-11-17 19:34:03 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Furniture.com - Common Box Mattresses and Bedding Queen Boxspring
Welcome to the Web's best furniture store, where the convenience of online shopping is combined with the local service and quick delivery of the nation’s ...

http://www.furniture.com/common/product/productinfo.aspx?Ite...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 17 mins (2007-11-17 19:45:31 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I believe that "box" is used to describe shape, and it doesn't necessarily need to be inflatable or any other special type. Google, at least, shows all kinds of mattresses, described so.

The stretch-sheets in question seem to be regular stretch-sheets (sheets that stretch and are "hooked" behind the mattress corners, thus removing wrinkles from the sheet). Except these particular sheets don't seem to stretch very well (you can't stretch them behind the corners), so the sides remain uncovered. I don't think they're ripped, at least there's no mention of that. "and not as one would expect stretch - sheets" seems to indicate just that -- they don't stretch as one would expect.
Peer comment(s):
agree orientalhorizon
10 hrs
Thank you, oriental.
Something went wrong...
+1
2 hrs

old-fashioned mattress (neither foam nor inflatable) on top of box springs

The fact that it is old is obvious because the pair of flat sheets (one top sheet and one bottom sheet, not fitted / elasticized) may be too small to cover both the mattress and the box springs.
Peer comment(s):
agree orientalhorizon
8 hrs
Thanks, OH
Something went wrong...
14 mins

the paired old fashioned sheets

Here he is trying to describe the old type of sheets .. one on top and the one beneath ... they are called a pair.
They usually were sold like this.... the one on the bottom in one color and the one on the top in different prints and colors....like one in plain blue and the one on the top with blue flowers and stuff...

Hope this helps

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2007-11-17 20:33:09 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

As far as I can tell may be the mattresses where covered with the paired sheets and if they were covered by the stretch sheets then they would not have been uncovered... does it make any sense???

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2007-11-17 20:34:08 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

the stretch would have held it in place...

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 20 hrs (2007-11-18 15:54:06 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

So what happened what did you decide ???? I am curious to know :)
Note from asker:
Hi there, in this case, what is being uncovered and what has "stretch" got to do with it?
Something went wrong...
Close search
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search