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#1: rug? Author: Shander, Location: the wilds of PEI

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:16 am
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They occasionally talk in the books about wrapping up in rugs.
I my world rugs go on the floor, they're generally like a small carpet.
So what is a rug? And what's the difference between a rug and a travelling rug?

#2: Author: Róisín, Location: Ireland

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:22 am
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A rug is something that can go on the floor like a mat, but a travelling rug is more like a thick blanket, especially for when you were in a draughty old 1930s vehicle! Here is one:

They're usually tartan-patterned. Some people still keep them in cars, especially in the back seat.

Edit: when they say wrapped up in one, they just mean tucked in around the knees really, I think.

#3: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:58 am
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Aha! A picnic blanket!

(Good question, Shander.)
(and a nicely illustrated answer. Smile

)

#4: Author: Alison H, Location: Manchester

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 8:54 am
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Ooh, what a pretty picture! Looks just like our old picnic blanket that we had for years when we were kids Very Happy

.

They are usually tartan-patterned, aren't they? I'd never thought of it before, but they are! I wonder why.

#5: Author: Mia, Location: London

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 11:32 am
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I have to say I tend to call blankets rugs if they aren't on a bed.

#6: Author: Squirrel, Location: St-Andrews or Dunfermline

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:51 pm
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Hmmm - I only tend to go with that for a travelling rug! Perhaps it's the texture that makes it that - plus the fact that you often lie it on the ground and then sit on it!

#7: Author: Travellers Joy, Location: Middle of Nowhere

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 1:35 pm
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That would also explain the expression 'to rug up well'.

#8: Author: Mrs Redboots, Location: London, UK

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:15 pm
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I think in America they are referred to as "Afghans", which here in the UK is either a breed of dog, or a very shaggy sheepskin coat much worn by hippies in the late 1960s and early 1970s

#9: Author: Mona, Location: Hertfordshire

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:42 pm
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Or she may have meant something like the mohair rugs my Gran always had at least 2 or 3 of around the house. They were very definitely for indoor use only, and very handy for tucking round your knees and feet in draughty rooms. They looked like this.
Depending on where they were doing the wrapping up, they very likely had both.

Last edited by Mona on Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:44 pm; edited 2 times in total

#10: Author: Pat, Location: Doncaster

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 3:43 pm
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I always picture the tartan travelling/picnic rug.

#11: Author: Alex, Location: Manchester

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 4:43 pm
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I often think of a rug as being frayed/having tassly things on the edges, whereas a blanket doesn't. But that might just be me.

#12: Author: KathrynW, Location: London

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 4:54 pm
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I always picture people wrapped up in carpet-type rugs and I have only just realised how odd this is... Embarassed

#13: Author: Billie, Location: The south of England.

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:31 pm
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Me too, Kathryn. I noticed it most in Enid Blyton; The Famous Five used to take rugs to sleep on and under when they went camping, and I thought that sounded rather impractical and uncomfortable. Only reading this thread did I realise what was meant. Embarassed

#14: Author: Kathy_S, Location: midwestern US

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 9:41 pm
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For me, afghans are normally knitted/crocheted, not woven. You do find them in cars sometimes, but more often they are draped handily over the sofa -- too good/delicate for outdoor use.

The picture did look to me like what I'd call a picnic blanket. Tartan is indeed one of the most popular patterns, though the one I most remember from my youth had zigzags and such on a red background. We called it the "Indian blanket." Similar functions may be served by "army blankets" (plain color, no fringe, not just for travel) and "stadium blankets" (in team colors and sometimes with insignia).

#15: Author: abbeybufo, Location: in a world of her own

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:54 pm
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This is what we always called a 'car rug' - even in the days before *we* had a car Laughing

- because before cars had heaters, the passengers in the car would have rugs of this sort tucked around them, especially in winter. Naturally as they would be in the car anyway, should one go for a picnic in the car, these rugs would do duty to sit on if the grass was damp.

#16: Author: KB, Location: Melbourne, Australia

Posted: Mon Feb 11, 2008 10:58 pm
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I would imagine that tartan would be useful because it wouldn't show the dirt or any stains as much as a plain colour would.

#17: Author: alicat, Location: Wiltshire

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 2:57 pm
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I alwasy thought 'rug up well' referred to the layers of blankets we used to tuck under the horses' rugs on cold nights.......now they have gone modern and have duvet rugs!

#18: Author: Travellers Joy, Location: Middle of Nowhere

Posted: Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:11 pm
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alicat wrote:

I alwasy thought 'rug up well' referred to the layers of blankets we used to tuck under the horses' rugs on cold nights.......now they have gone modern and have duvet rugs!

In my childhood it was always in context of making sure we had plenty of layers on before going out in the cold, especially at night, since we didn't have very cold days.

#19: Author: Sunglass, Location: Usually London

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 11:29 am
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The one CS moment where a 'rug' is mentioned which left me unsure whether it was a blanket or small square of floor-covering is the moment in Shocks where Matey throws one over Emerence, who is throwing a tantrum in the corridor, having just been ejected from the Prefect's Room by a cross Tom Gay and Bride Bettany. I suppose it's entirely plausible Matey was walking through the school with a rug over her arm for purposes entirely unrelated to calming unruly new Middles, but I have occasionally wondered whether she picked up something from the floor and used it to subdue Emerence...

#20: Author: linda, Location: Leeds

Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:07 pm
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I still carry a car rug in my car - and it has proved very useful on occasions, not just for picnics or on the beach.

I last used it a couple of years ago when I was stranded on the highest part of the M62 in January with no power at all in the car, waiting to be rescued by the RAC. It might be red tartan but it was better than hypothermia !! Laughing

#21: Author: Mrs Redboots, Location: London, UK

Posted: Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:38 pm
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We keep a fleece blanket in the car, and if we're going to be watching skating I throw another one in (rinks can get very cold after awhile!) for the Husband. But those, for some reason, are called blankets, not rugs!

When I went to boarding-school, in the days before duvets, each bed was provided with either two or three blankets, and you were expected to bring a rug and an eiderdown (a bit like a duvet, but in bright covers and not as warm; you didn't put a cover on it) from home which lived at school until you left. In the summer, of course, they weren't wanted, but the dormitories were, by and large, unheated (certainly the first few years I was there - some of them had gas fires in for dressing in front of, though) and the rug and eiderdown were most welcome in the colder weather!

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