Company's Coming

[s1m0n]

Is this a phrase you use? Where are you from?

I'm asking because I realized that this (and similar expressions like "We have company") are phrases I feel ever-so-slightly self-conscious about using, presumably because this is one term which my 'active'* lexicon reflects my parent's british english rather than the canadian standard. I'd probably use "guests" instead of company.

So is this a canadian thing, or an North American thing? How would you descibe guests in your home?

*Linguists distinguish between active lexicon, which are all the words you yourself tend to say or use, and passive lexicon, which includes all the words you understand but don't use yourself.

For me, something like the british terms "loo" or "bog" are passive; I understand them just fine, but these aren't things I'd tend to say unless I was assuming another voice for some reason.

[jsluder]

So is this a canadian thing, or an North American thing? How would you descibe guests in your home?

I grew up in northeast Tennessee (USA), and we always used the term "company" to refer to guests in our home. Never really thought about it before...

[djm]

Somtimes either company or guests (both passive), but more commonly "having people over" (active).

djm

[Dale]

That's used in the places I've lived: Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Alabama. I'm wondering if it's not common throughout the USA.

[Jack]

How does "company" mean that? To me it sounds like you're having an entire corporation ("my company is coming") over to dinner or something. But I've heard it before.

That's used in the places I've lived: Arkansas, Tennessee, West Virginia, Alabama. I'm wondering if it's not common throughout the USA.

But...AR, TN, WV, and AL represent only a small portion of the whole USA, though...

[Cynth]

My family would always say "We're having company." I've lived in California, Utah, and Iowa.

[Nanohedron]

General usage in my region for informal visits tends to be "company", whereas "guests" seems to suggest a higher tone, and is sometimes used with irony for that reason. Which is a bit funny, as "company" comes from the Latin, and "guests" is native English. Bit of a switch, there.

[The Weekenders]

yup. Company's coming. Always heard that growing up here in Calaforny.

[Nanohedron]

How does "company" mean that?

It's expanded from the Latin cum panis, literally "with bread", which is also the source for the word "companion", the idea stemming from eating together in fellowship. The modern corporate meaning is a departure from the original. Not only in the sense of guests, but, also, any small-to-medium sized (whatever that means) group of people, especially a close-knit one of largely unrelated individuals, would have been called a company, and still is, although it's probably not as common as it might have been. It brings to mind the word "band" in that sense, but not "tribe", strictly speaking. Loosely speaking is another matter.

That's how you can say, "I enjoy his company", and not mean your stock options.

[Nanohedron]

I'd probably use "guests" instead of company.

I usually do, myself: an anomaly in the land to which I was born. Dunno if it was a family thing; I never thought about that until you brought it up. Anyway, it just comes out that way. I had an ex that used to mock me for it, as if I were trying to put on airs. I wasn't.

I do use "company" more, now. Usually it's when only one or two are coming over for tunes or something easygoing. A bigger group, or someone that I think poses a greater host's responsibility to me, and it's "guest(s)".

[s1m0n]

I suspect there's a pronounciation distinction between company (guests) and (company) a business.

The former is almost always only two syllables, at least to my ears--cump-nee--whereas the latter might be three.

[chrisoff]

How would you descibe guests in your home?

Hostages


In all seriousness I never say "I'm having company over" or a variation thereof. But then I'm young and hip. Yo.

[amar]

How does "company" mean that?

It's expanded from the Latin cum panis, literally "with bread", which is also the source for the word "companion", the idea stemming from eating together in fellowship. The modern corporate meaning is a departure from the original. Not only in the sense of guests, but, also, any small-to-medium sized (whatever that means) group of people, especially a close-knit one of largely unrelated individuals, would have been called a company, and still is, although it's probably not as common as it might have been. It brings to mind the word "band" in that sense, but not "tribe", strictly speaking. Loosely speaking is another matter.

That's how you can say, "I enjoy his company", and not mean your stock options.

and there I was thinking cum panis was the latin for male.

[dubhlinn]

Visitors.

Here we have visitors. Mrs.D, who is English, and I, who am not, have both been using this expression independently of each other for years.

I have heard "company" being used over here but never "guests".

Slan,
D.

[Joseph E. Smith]

Growing up in Northern Minnesota (Duluth), company was the term we used for friends or relatives who were stayintg with us for longer than a day. Guest was used for those who would come to dinner or a party, and would leave the very same day.