Out of One’s Depth with “Out of Pocket”

Hi, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, my name is Lindsay. I’m calling from San Diego.

Hey, Lindsay, we’re glad to have you.

So my question is about the phrase out of pocket.

So I worked in sort of a corporate setting and we were talking to some coworkers and we were saying, oh, hey, yeah, that guy’s out of pocket.

And another coworker looked at us like we were, we’d grown two heads.

Like, what, why would you say that about him?

And we’re like, well, no, he’s just, he’s just unavailable.

And so we were like, what do you think out of pocket means?

And he’s like, oh, well, it’s like acting out of sorts, like they’re inappropriate.

And we were like, oh, OK, that’s not what we took it to mean.

And then I was talking to another friend of my husband’s and he’d also said, oh, yeah, I went to a party last week and no one was acting out of pocket.

So in context, I was like, OK, I get this now.

When did the phrase out of pocket change?

Because I feel like it’s always meant when you’re out of pocket, you’re you’re unavailable, right?

Like you’re just, you’re you can’t be reached.

Oh, wow. This is so good. So there are three, at least three major meanings of out-of-pocket in U.S. English.

But let me ask you, the two people who thought it meant acting out of line or being unruly, were they African-American?

No, they’re both younger. So I was thinking maybe it’s like a younger generation thing.

Yeah, well, the reason I ask is that typically the acting out of line or being wild or disrespectful comes from Black American English.

And it occurs as early as the 1970s.

And maybe it’s being spread more through social media than it used to.

And, of course, through hip-hop and Black entertainment culture.

And maybe it’s spread a lot more in recent years.

But it’s been around so far. We’re talking 50-plus years.

The oldest meaning of it is to be paying things with your own expenses.

And this goes back to the 17th century.

So it’s the idea of that you’re paying things with your own money.

Maybe you’re going to be reimbursed by your company.

Maybe you won’t be.

So if you’re out of pocket, you’re literally paying for things with money out of your own pocket.

But out of that came a second sense, which kind of developed in journalism, also from the 1970s, which means unavailable.

And that’s the sense that you meant, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, it means that you can’t be reached.

So it means that you’re not nearby.

And this one is kind of related to this idea of being out of, not under someone’s thumb.

And it’s related to the meaning of being in someone’s pocket, which is the idea of being under their control.

So you can see that a couple of these meanings of being out of pocket have to do with control and perhaps are related in that way.

And interestingly, when we talked about this, what was it, Martha, 2012?

A long time ago.

Yeah, we got a really nice email from a listener who talked about training horses and talked about horses who are under training, who are kind of observant of the people who are trainers, are said to be in pocket.

And there are also other uses in music and so forth that have to do with being out of pocket or in pocket when you’re improvising jazz or blues.

But this is a really great example of co-workers misunderstanding each other.

And it sounds like it was kind of fun or just confusing.

Yeah. Who took it to mean like he’s unavailable was like this guy’s reaction was just like, why would you ever say that about somebody like in a work setting?

And we were like, well, we did. What? What do you mean?

He’s fine. He’s just unavailable.

Did he know the unavailable meaning at all?

Not really.

And so it was just it’s such an interesting context base that you have to really then apply because like, I mean, yeah, it’s like being out of pocket, meaning that someone’s acting inappropriately or something like that.

It’s completely contextual based.

But when you’re just saying like, oh, yeah, he’s just out of pocket.

He’s out of pocket.

Without any other context.

Yeah, it could be taken several different ways.

Yeah, it really could be.

I’m not surprised that when you have these normal frictions in an office, it’s an argument for avoiding jargon and idioms.

But you’re just never going to do that.

It’s impossible to free your language of jargon and idioms.

It just can’t be done.

I also work with other co-workers who English is not their first language.

And so sometimes they’ll stop me and say, like, well, what did you mean by that?

Like, I don’t understand that phrase.

And I was like, oh, well, happy to explain it because, yeah, in English we lose a lot of them.

Yeah, and that kind of back and forth is normal for every language where person A says something and person B says, can you repeat that in different words?

Asking for explanation is just a normal course of any language.

Yeah, well, Lindsay, if something like that comes up again, give us a call.

We’d love to hear about it.

Will do. Awesome.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Yeah, take care of yourself.

Take care.

Bye.

Bye.

Bye.

Well, Grant and I are never out of pocket.

We always behave, but we’re also always available, at least by voicemail.

So call us, 877-929-9673.