Couch potato
{{Short description|Person who spends most of their free time sitting or lying on a couch}}
{{otheruses}}
A couch potato is a person who spends most of their free time sitting or lying on a couch. This stereotype often refers to a lazy and overweight person who watches a great deal of television. Generally speaking, the term refers to a lifestyle in which children or adults do not get enough physical activity.
History
The actual term "couch potato" was first coined in 1976 by Tom Iacino, a friend of American underground comics artist Robert Armstrong. In the early-1980s, he registered the term as a trademark with the United States government; he also co-authored a book with Jack Mingo, called The Official Couch Potato Handbook, which delves into the lives of couch potatoes.{{Cite web |title=Couch Potato: Life as a Full-time Television Watcher |url=http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2006-08/2006-08-20-voa1.cfm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004081724/http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/archive/2006-08/2006-08-20-voa1.cfm |archive-date=2006-10-04 |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=www.voanews.com |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Yahoo {{!}} Mail, Weather, Search, Politics, News, Finance, Sports & Videos |url=https://www.yahoo.com/ |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=www.yahoo.com |language=en-US}}
The term eventually entered common American vocabulary, generally defining one who unceasingly watches television. The phrase was entered into the Oxford English Dictionary in 1993.{{Fact|date=November 2009}}
Health
Some studies have said that the "couch potato lifestyle" is a serious health hazard to its practitioners;{{Cite news |date=2002-09-03 |title=Are you a couch potato? |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2233736.stm |access-date=2025-06-20 |language=en-GB}} in the United Kingdom, a plan of the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit tried attempts "to combat the couch potato culture" to "[improving the U.K.'s] international sporting performance."{{Cite web |title=New Government report sets out to combat the couch potato culture and improve our international sporting performance |url=http://www.pm.gov.uk:80/output/Page3900.asp |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20050313200005/http://www.pm.gov.uk:80/output/Page3900.asp |archive-date=2005-03-13 |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=www.pm.gov.uk |language=en}}
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".http://www.bayarea.com/mld/cctimes/living/health/6500983.htm
Research suggests that being a couch potato could make a person a decade older biologically than someone who is physically active.{{Cite web |last=Shetty |first=Priya |date=29 January 2008 |title=Couch potato lifestyle may speed up ageing |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13238-couch-potato-lifestyle-may-speed-up-ageing/ |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=New Scientist |language=en-US}}
Popular culture
- Various activities have been designed for the couch potato, including a type of investment portfolio ("Couch Potato Portfolio"){{Cite web |title=Can I Make Money With a Couch-Potato Portfolio? |url=https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/08/couch-potato-portfolio.asp |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=Investopedia |language=en}} 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.{{Cite web |title=Sign in - Google Accounts |url=https://accounts.google.com/v3/signin/identifier?continue=https%3A%2F%2Fsites.google.com%2Fa%2Fpupswithoutpartners.org%2Fgreyhounds&followup=https%3A%2F%2Fsites.google.com%2Fa%2Fpupswithoutpartners.org%2Fgreyhounds&ifkv=AdBytiM4mQW6gkQHG1Tb3audOexJ-iHIpD0rXkiIxsnC6Mo0_Jm2Gw_mpDl1w8kIJ2TNCFwV_ZwmRQ&osid=1&passive=1209600&flowName=GlifWebSignIn&flowEntry=ServiceLogin&dsh=S2050417706%3A1750387684437632 |access-date=2025-06-20 |website=accounts.google.com}}{{Registration required}}
- 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] legs are numb, [his] eyes bloodshot."
- The phrase has coined the spin-off mouse potato (or sometimes computer potato), meaning one who spends too much time in front of a computer.
- In the comedy movie Stay Tuned (1992), Roy Knable (John Ritter) was a couch potato who was sucked into a television world by an emissary from hell (Jeffrey Jones).
- Couch Potatoes was the name of a game show hosted by Double Dare host Marc Summers.
- Couch Potato was a Sunday morning kids TV show aired on the ABC in Australia in the 1990s.
References
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External links
- [http://couchpotato.web.surftown.se/ CouchPotato] – A personalized tv-show guide for couch potatoes
- [http://www.in-mind.org/issue-4/on-mirror-neurons-or-why-it-is-okay-to-be-a-couch-potato-4.html On Mirror Neurons or Why It Is Okay to be a Couch Potato]