moquette

[prettygoodword]

moquette (moh-KET) - n., a carpet or upholstery fabric having a thick, velvety pile.


If you've ever been on public transport with seats that feel a little softer than ye standard upholstery, that's moquette:


Thanks, WikiMedia!

Taken around 1760 from French, where it now means fitted carpet, alteration of earlier moucade, imitation velvet, before which my trail runs cold.

---L.

Comments

[oracne]

A terrific word!

[prettygoodword]

Please do not be confusing it with moggie.

[full_metal_ox]

Although I imagine moggies are often to be found sprawling upon moquette, particularly if they shed in a contrasting color.

(Tangentially related Fun Fact: Wakayama, Japan’s Kishi Railway Station has become a veritable cat theme park, in honor of Tama, their iconic late mascot and stationmaster turned patron demigoddess. The feline accoutrements include a Tama Train—whose interior decor features tortoiseshell-colored moquette:

https://thebeautyoftransport.com/2015/12/23/the-fe-line-nishi-station-japan/

And there’s always the possibility of moquette patterned with moggies:

)

[full_metal_ox]

At one point Dayton, Ohio’s RTA buses had seats with very much that sort of 90’s video-arcade carpeting motif—I wonder whether the same manufacturer was involved, or if that was a general public transit design trend.

[prettygoodword]

I suspect the latter.