Adventures in Advanced Britpicking

[randomstasis]

You know how, every time you read a British writer's assertion that "Sam was stood in the doorway" or "Bobby was sat in his chair' your mind boggles for a moment at the gall of whoever put them there

Comments

[sollersuk]

It's dialect rather than standard - I hear it a lot more in the north of England and even the Midlands than the south. I've been trying to pin down the exact meaning because "was sat", thought imperfective, does not have the same connotations as "was sitting"

[randomstasis]

Thank you! I thought it must be regional, but could never pin it down because, you know, the internet. We in US just don't have that connotation for that "was sat" construction, at all, so if you ever figure it out, let me know?
We use the (be + verb+ing) for the continuous, but
We tend to use (be+ past participle) strictly as a passive, usually for inanimate objects; "The broom was stood up again after it fell down", occasionally for people getting pushed around by other people;
"Little Johnny Rotten was stood in the corner for cussing at Teacher"
(As LJR is wont to do, if you're not familiar with the Johnny Rotten jokes),
or active=>passive indicating outside agency; you can say either
"the conductor forcibly sat the drunk down in his seat", or
"the staggering drunk was sat down by an irate passenger"
and they have the same general meaning as far as the drunk's agreement to this action goes...

[just_ruth]

and Bobby might bite

I want to see that. XD