Handbag language - purse, tote, satchel, hobo, ...

[NagaJolokia]

I like the sound of "pocketbook" even though I've never used the word myself. I hear "bag" the most by far followed by "handbag"or "purse", and I reside in middle of the east coast of the U.S. I usually use "bag" or "handbag".

 

[LindaP]

I like the sound of "pocketbook" even though I've never used the word myself. I hear "bag" the most by far followed by "handbag"or "purse", and I reside in middle of the east coast of the U.S. I usually use "bag" or "handbag".

I think of pocketbook as kind of old fashioned, maybe because that's what my mom calls it. My husband calls it a pocketbook too though, probably because his mom does! Once I was shipping a purse UPS, when the clerk asked me what the contents were I answered a purse, I noticed on the form she wrote pocketbook.

I've never heard anyone call it a handbag in every day speech, though I see it online all the time.

Linda

 

[greyhoundgal]

I have always thought of a Purse as a bag that you wear on your shoulder and a handbag is a bag that is meant to be carried by hand or in the crook of the arm (example Speedy by LV). As for pocketbook I have always thought that meant a wallet. I am from Texas and have lived here my whole life so I don't know if this is regional or if I am just weird.

 

[LindaP]

I have always thought of a Purse as a bag that you wear on your shoulder and a handbag is a bag that is meant to be carried by hand or in the crook of the arm (example Speedy by LV). As for pocketbook I have always thought that meant a wallet. I am from Texas and have lived here my whole life so I don't know if this is regional or if I am just weird.

A wallet, really? Interesting! I haven't ever heard pocketbook used to mean wallet before, it's always meant a purse/handbag where I've lived.

Fascinating! Of course you're not weird, these terms obviously vary by location.

I typed 'pocektbook' up in a search engine and got a small hit from wiki -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purse

and Marriam Webster came up using it both ways in the definition

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pocketbook

Linda

 

[LucyMadrid]

I am from Spain and learnt English in the UK . I've always heard purse in the meaning of the small bag where you keep coins and wallet where you keep notes, but many times both are in the same item.

 

[Mariapia]

I am from Spain and learnt English in the UK . I've always heard purse in the meaning of the small bag where you keep coins and wallet where you keep notes, but many times both are in the same item.

Same here. I learnt that a purse was some kind of a wallet in which you keep coins....
In one of Ed Mc Bain's police stories there is a hilarious scene in a police station where a lady reports the theft of a purse... The lady is British, the policemen American.
The misunderstanding lasts for hours until the Police realize the woman isn't talking of a handbag.
I often wondered how the translators managed to put it into French....or Italian or any other foreign language...