Can anybody tell me the meaning of “couch potato”?
A couch potato refers to a person who spends most of his/her free time sitting or lying on a couch. The stereotype often refers to overweight men who watch a lot of television, sometimes in their underwear, and sometimes drinking beer. Generally speaking, the term refers to a lifestyle in which children or adults don’t get enough physical activity. The word first appeared in a December 1979 edition of The Los Angeles Times[citation needed], and was entered into the Oxford English Dictionary fourteen years later. The exact origin of the term is unknown, but may relate to the habit of eating potato chips while watching TV. Some studies have said that the “couch potato lifestyle” is a serious health hazard to its practitioners[1]; in the United Kingdom, a plan of the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit tied attempts “to combat the couch potato culture” to “[improving the U.K.’s] international sporting performance” [2]. Ten studies presented at the 2003 meeting of the American College of Sports
