Two separate quotes I heard the other day:
1. Davina McCall to Shilpa Shetty: "That is why you're sat there."
2. Russell Brand: "That glorious, ostentatious bit of furniture will have Shilpa Shetty sat on it."
Huh??? Why "sat" instead of "sitting"? Is this common usage in the UK?
Yep, that is the way "sat" is commonly used in colloquial English. Continuous forms of several common intransitive verbs are often replaced in spoken English by simple forms such as for example past continous "was sitting" becoming "was sat." I think most British English speakers would recognise that this is a non-standard usage.
My (no doubt hasty and ill-considered sociolingusitic) theory as to why they persist with it is that many people have a vague notion that it is better not to "talk posh" if you want to be taken seriously in today's (pseudo-)classless Britain. Most people from the South of England who are under 40 and from the very wide "middle class" group of social categories speak an odd amalgam of what they perceive as working class "street" English in terms of accent and form mixed with more "standard" forms. I read recently that certain features of Northern English pronunciation are starting to gain ground in the South, again probably as reaction against seeming "posh." A lot of the social attitudes surrounding the use of non-standard features no doubt arise from the character grinding-mill that is secondary school. As children become more and more like adults, so adults carry over more of the unofficial lessons of school life into their adult working lives, as the distinctions between the two spheres blur, and it is no longer deemed necessary to distance oneself from secondary school type behaviour.
Well, perhaps I am musing a little too far on this one...!
In case you were wondering, I am from the ill-defined region between North Yorkshire and North East, so regard the whole issue of Southerners trying to speak "street" with bemusement and a hint of disdain!