Couch Potato: Life as a Full-time Television Watcher

a "couch potato."   A couch is a piece of furniture that people sit on while watching television.

"mouse potatoes" enjoy working on computers.  A computer mouse is the device that moves the pointer, or cursor, on a computer screen.  The description of mouse potato became popular in nineteen-ninety-three.   American writer Alice Kahn is said to have invented the term to describe young people who spend a lot of time using computers.

"cabin fever."  A cabin is a simple house usually built far away from the city.  People go to a cabin to relax and enjoy quiet time.

"nesting" or "cocooning."  Birds build nests out of sticks to hold their eggs and baby birds. Some insects build cocoons around themselves for protection while they grow and change.  Nests and cocoons provide security for wildlife.  So people like the idea of nests and cocoons, too.

"left the nest."  They are in college. Or they are married and starting families of their own far away.  Now these parents are living alone without children in their "empty nest."  They have become "empty nesters."