It is anybody’s guess!!
To most Americans, including me, a Carpet is something you permanently tack to the surface of your entire floor; a rug something you place anywhere the carpet isn’t (as with a throw-rug), and a tapestry a decorative textile you hang on the wall. Since the whole point of this blog is to separate ourselves from “most Americans” by actually learning something about carpets, rugs and tapestries, we are going to dig a bit deeper for our definitions.
A carpet, according to Webster’s Dictionary (Not the online dictionary; rightly or wrongly this writer still considers books of paper and ink more authoritative than online entities), “is a heavy woven or felted fabric used as a floor covering.”
While Mr. Webster has nothing to say on the subject, felting is the most common backing for those carpets that you fasten down in the room. If you rip up a bit of your wall to wall carpet and look at the backing you will see that it was formed with the help of chemicals, heat and pressure; something that appears painted or smeared on rather than woven.
A rug on the other hand, according to Webster, “is a thick, heavy fabric, usually with a nap or pile, used as a floor covering.” Notice that both rug and carpet are “heavy… fabric” and “used as a floor covering.”
A nap, by the way, is a hairy or downy surface (not the kind of thing old men like me do in the afternoon); The nap is the upper side of the rug that you walk on. The pile is a velvety surface produced by an extra set of filling yarns that form raised loops which are cut and sheared and forms the nap. The image below contains far more information that you need at the moment but as you can see, the pile is that part of the rug that you walk on and in some cases if the pile is high enough, run your fingers through.
So now we can say that the difference between rug and carpet is then the difference between felting and weaving…only it isn’t. Lift up any number of throw rugs and you’ll find the base has been felted. Go figure…
Which brought me limping back to my original definition, the one most American’s are already aware of : a Carpet is something you permanently tack to the surface of your entire floor; a rug something you place anywhere the carpet isn’t (as in a throw-rug).
Ok, then what about Oriental Rugs and Carpets? Nobody in his right mind has ever tacked one of those expensive things to his floor. So all Oriental Carpets should properly be called Oriental Rugs. Instead of Magic Carpets ferrying genies around the heavens, they are actually Magic Rugs! And Steppenwolf’s 1968 hit Magic Carpet Ride should properly be titled, Magic Rug Ride: “Well, you don’t know what we can find / Why don’t you come with me little girl / On a magic rug ride / You don’t know what we can see…” “Rug Ride” lacks something doesn’t it?
Thinking that I had plumbed this mystery to its depths, and thinking I had really discovered something world-shattering, I then discovered this interesting bit on the difference between a carpet and a rug in a book by Emmitt Eiland, a true expert on rugs, carpets and tapestries. On page 65 of his book Oriental Rugs Today. No, Mr. Eiland says, ...I often use rug and carpet interchangeably! Which tells me that you can make it up as you go along…
Ok, on to the definition of Tapestry:
A tapestry, according to Webster, “is a heavy reversible textile used for wall-hangings, curtains, upholstery and characterized by complicated pictorial designs.” The only questionable term I found 
in this definition was “reversible textile.” Does that then mean if the textile hanging on your wall isn’t equally picturesque on both sides it is either a rug or a carpet? The image to the left shows a part of the priceless Bayeux Tapestry. From what I’d read, it was not reversible.
in this definition was “reversible textile.” Does that then mean if the textile hanging on your wall isn’t equally picturesque on both sides it is either a rug or a carpet? The image to the left shows a part of the priceless Bayeux Tapestry. From what I’d read, it was not reversible.I checked with another unimpeachable authority, the Encyclopedia Britannica. It had nothing fresh to add to the question of reversibility, but did further stipulate that a tapestry, like a carpet and a rug, can also be used as a floor covering—or even as part of a garment. Again, not the Bayeux Tapestry, please!
And then I actually came across something even more interesting. No, the Bayeux Tapestry isn’t reversible, but neither is it a tapestry. Take a look at what I discovered about that right here
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