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A Question of Taste

11 July, 2026
Posted in: Middle Child, Siblings, Twins

My brother of whom I am fond when he is not driving me crazy has firm views on what size a television should be and his view is that it should be the size of one wall of your house. This is not a view I share.

Before we moved to this house he very kindly bought me a present of a television. I didn’t want a television, I thought my normal sized non-slimline TV was fine. In our old, small house, the new television loomed in the downstairs room where we basically did everything; I did not love it. When we moved to this house which is mercifully bigger, the new TV looked a lot better and I am now pretty pleased with it and would not part with it. It is about 15 years old but it has worked faithfully for us all these years with no problems of any kind. “What a successful present!” you say.

However, my brother is unhappy. Television technology has advanced and this TV which he kindly bought all those years ago is now too small he feels. It is a 32 inch screen (I’ve just measured it for you, you measure diagonally apparently). It drives my brother bananas and I would be lying if I didn’t say that this was, perhaps, not the least of its attractions. In his own house he has an enormous television which feels like it’s following you around the room. We enjoy regular free and frank exchanges of views on television sizes. I honestly thought that he was the odd one however some alarming evidence that there may be something in what he says has come my way recently.

Middle child had some friends around and reported to me the very unwelcome news that they said, “Why is your TV so old and small?” SMALL? What is this craziness? One of the offending children looked around the room and said, “It’s because they spent all their money on lamps.” Who doesn’t like mood lighting and despise the harsh central light? 20 year olds apparently. So long as my brother never finds out, we’re alright, I suppose. Might I ask, what size is your own television?

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Lesley says

    11 July, 2026 at 18:23

    I’m with your brother. We have a 55″ TV – we also have a large sitting room. I would go bigger still (even if the room was smaller) – my husband has threatened divorce.

  2. belgianwaffle says

    11 July, 2026 at 19:15

    Re divorce: rightly so! This world view supports my brother’s position and I don’t like it.

  3. Lola says

    11 July, 2026 at 21:55

    Sorry to agree with your brother, but I have created an auditorium for my television because I love to watch films. It is 65 inches diagonally which is greater than my own height, and has a soundbar and sub woofers and I love it. I will shortly be moving to a much smaller house which does not have the space for such a luxury, and I am already mourning its loss.

  4. Suzy says

    12 July, 2026 at 17:00

    We are very much team you – we had a large television about 20 years ago (well large for then anyway) and really did not like the way it dominated the room.

    But then, tv does not play a huge part in our lives!

  5. Lesley says

    12 July, 2026 at 17:38

    Exactly why I love a big screen for watching films – rather than being a TV addict – which seems to be what most people think. We haven’t gone down the sound bar and speaker route though. Sorry you’ll have to lose your TV when you move. Unable to hang the TV on the wall?

  6. Karen in DC says

    13 July, 2026 at 04:35

    Even while our TV was being hung, my husband said “We could have gotten a bigger one.” Ours is 60 inches. Sounds like he and your brother would get along. Fortunately, our house is large enough (although on the small side for our area) that the TV is not in the living room. I find the larger size makes for larger close-caption fonts, which I appreciate.

  7. belgianwaffle says

    13 July, 2026 at 09:55

    Who knew that this was a topic on which so many have firm views?

  8. Oana Hyatt says

    13 July, 2026 at 19:19

    Disgustingly big – 100″ and would have been bigger if Costco had offered bigger. I shuddered when my husband told me he’d ordered it but what do you know, it’s been great for our Superbowl party and for recent FIFA games. When it’s off, it looms like a portal to the underworld and I avoid the room altogether.

  9. belgianwaffle says

    14 July, 2026 at 12:54

    This is terrible news. Portal to the Underworld is good though.

  10. Beth D says

    14 July, 2026 at 19:06

    We have a 32″ inch TV and it fits perfectly in our lovely (very out of date not) oak cabinets. I can still see the subtitles but cannot make out some text when watching baseball.

    I have finally given my okay for a larger set but that means we need to redecorate more than we want. No one likes to come and watch anything with us! (not sure if this is a bad thing).

  11. belgianwaffle says

    15 July, 2026 at 09:47

    I see television size is the gift that keeps on giving. So many opinions! I am glad that my brother and I are not alone in our divergence of views.

  12. Town mouse says

    16 July, 2026 at 11:38

    Friends of mine have a projector for their tv viewing so the picture can be huge, but there’s nothing to see when it’s not in use.

  13. belgianwaffle says

    16 July, 2026 at 17:51

    That is cool. We too have a projector but the set up is v elaborate and the screen lives under the stairs. A Covid purchase…

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