Chairpersons and Standees…

…a short disquisition on the chair as a status symbol

(triggered by a scene from the movie “The King’s Speech”).

At dinner parties many years ago, a topic often discussed was what a woman presiding over a meeting should call herself. Progressives insisted on “chairperson”, and conservatives stuck with “chairman”; conservatives who wished to be thought progressive argued that in English the word “man” can signify all humanity.

All took for granted, however, the importance of the “chair”. The person in charge was “chairman” or “chairperson,” not “benchman,” or “stoolman,” and certainly not “footman.” All understood that sitting on a chair confers the highest status.

Students of social history won’t be surprised by this. The chair has been a status symbol since the dawn of civilization. In ancient Egyptian art, the pharaoh and his family were shown seated on chairs while everyone else stood, kneeled, or sat crossed-legged on the ground. In medieval Europe, only the highest churchmen-the bishops and abbots-had chairs; the rest sat on benches or stools. The bishop’s chair was so important that the Latin word for chair, cathedra -“from his chair”-he spoke with the authority of the church. Kings always sat in chairs while others stood (recall the little episode in “The Kings Speech’?). When parliament began to challenge the authority of the king in 17th-century England, the presiding officer of the lower house sat on a chair. All other members sat on benches-as indeed they still do.

Chairs confer status for an obvious reason; sitting on a chair, especially a chair with a high back and arms and possibly a footstool, is more comfortable than standing or sitting on a bench or stool.

This was especially true in the days before central heating. A high backed chair with a footstool trapped the sitter’s body heat, what little heat there was from hearth or stove, and kept his feet off the cold floor. For most of human history, chairs were thrones, and only kings and bishops sat in them.

Today, of course, most kings have been dethroned and chairs are too common to be highly prized for their own sake. The average household has at least several chairs for regular use (including the driver’s seat in an automobile) and others for occasional use or for guests. Yet chairs still convey a clear distinction of rank.

This is conspicuously true at the opera, where good seats are still scarce and expensive. Opera goers who can’t afford them are known as “standees.”

And the top executive in Hollywood…well! As Gloria Swanson reminded us, Cecil B. De Mille had a chair in his private office that not only had a high back and arms, but also was placed on a platform so that Mr. De Mille (as she always referred to him) could look down on his visitors.

Old pharaoh in Egypt could hardly do better than that, though his modern counterpart does almost as well. The first head of state of the People’s Republic of China was known simply as Chairman Mao, whether seated or standing.

When the American president signs an important bill in front of the television cameras, he sits while senators and representatives stand behind him.

All of which leads us to the fundamental social distinctions in modern times when everyone who is anyone has a job. So let’s take a tip from Chairman Mao, henceforth we shall refer to all people sitting down at work as “chairmen” or “chairpersons” regardless of their rank in the hierarchy. We can than refer to all the people standing up at work as-well we can’t call them “footpersons,” can we? Perhaps we could borrow a term from the opera house: “standees.”

Definitely “chairpersons.”