Where has the word "sitting" gone

pammygran I think this is just shortened "text" speak to be honest,I don't think that it is a North/South divide attitude.

I have heard it on the BBC!

I've heard it all over the place!

Wait for it!...

Brace yourselves!....

I've...

I've...

I've heard it on gransnet!!!

[Runs for cover]

I think "sat" always been around as in "sat on my a* watching the athletics"
It has a slightly different nuance to "sitting" in my book.
Are we sitting comfortably children?
Didn't the BBC talk posh in those days

The gran sat on the mat?

Language moves on and using 'sat' instead of 'sitting' does occasionally sound right, even though it's not gramatically correct.

What about 'laying', though as in 'I was laying down in bed...'
Or 'I was laid in bed...'

I looked it up on one of the grammar forums and it said that although sitting is correct, sat is often used when we want to convey humour. That sounds right to me - was it Les Dawson who used to say "I was sat sitting...."

It precedes text speak by years. And I believe it to be feature of Northern speech, as in Corrie.

Woops !! thats me wrong again.

As in "What ya doin' sat thur like cheese a' fourpence when ya could be 'elpin' yu moom, ya daft 'a'p'orth?"

Ahoy! Biker! You'll understand, won't you?

And black country. There was Eli, sat theyer, lookin as daft as a brush, ower kid!

I agree it is not a recent usage but a long standing one.

Maybe we should all be a bit more tolerant of regionalism?

As a 'furiner' I couldn't believe my ears when I first heard 'I were stood standing there' - lol.

Love the variety it brings to language- providing the context/register is appropriate. Informal talk between friends should allow for this.

Yow shud cum tae the black country!

Wasn't it Hilda Baker who was "sat sitting"?

Yes OH thinks it was Hilda Baker as well - and our Eli. "Nearest and Dearest" at Pledge's Pickles, we think.

Surely "sitting" and "standing" are present participles and used with the auxiliary verb "to be"in the present tense in the continuous present or with the past tense of "to be" to make an imperfect. "Stood "and "Sat" are past tenses and only used correctly in isolation or as a past participle in the perfect tense.
I sit at the front when I go to church/
I am sitting have a glass of wine/
I sat beside him on the park bench/
I have sat here many times/
I was sitting in the corner when the phone rang, etc.
Regional or dialect variations are perfectly correct in context, but now seem to be taking over. End of rant.

Jenni I lived in Stoke for a while - and worked in an Engineering firm there as PA/translator to MD. Learnt a lot of local dialect in my early days in UK, lol. Followed by Leicestershire, which was interesting too, lol.

First day in first teaching job - an 11 year old from Braunstone, a (in) famous Estate in Leicester asked me 'Miss, why cain't you speak proper like what we do?' - well, yes, indeed Abigail, lol.

Re "laying" and "lying" :
Laying is a transitive verb, i.e. it has an object - the hen laid an egg, I laid my burden down etc
Lying is an intransitive verb, i.e. there can be no object, so you lie down, a dog lies in the sun and a book lies on the table until I pick it up.
I get so cross at the use of "laying" for "lying" - especially by educated people who should know better.
Ah well, second rant over.

Well, that seems to have banged that one on the head!! Final word on lie and lay:
Wasn't it Dorothy Parker who made a comment about if all the girls who attended the Yale prom were laid end to end she wouldn't be at all surprised.

You're allowed to rant - it's in Pedant's Corner.