Purse, Handbag, or Pocketbook

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Good morning. My name is Wally Edelson and I’m calling from Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.

Well, hello, Wally. Welcome to the show.

Okay. Back in the day, growing up in Philadelphia, wherever I went, whether it was school or a party or a trip, throughout the 30 years I lived there, my personal belongings that I carried always went into my pocketbook.

But now here in the panhandle at a recent function, I admired someone’s pocketbook. And the woman said, quote, are you having a senior moment? This is a handbag. What on earth is a pocketbook?

Are you serious?

I am very serious. I mean, living in this part of the state of Florida, I lived in Miami for 40 some years. There are a lot of people here who are either snowbirds or have their second home here from Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana. And they said this is a handbag or a shoulder bag or a purse. What is a pocketbook?

That’s the only thing I ever called anything I put my belongings in. So I didn’t know if that’s a regional word or a cultural word.

As far as we know, it’s not a regional term, but it certainly is a generational term. My mother carried a pocketbook for sure. Pocketbook, and so that applies just to a purse.

Yeah.

Right, a purse, a tote bag, a shoulder bag, a handbook. I have no particular expertise at this, but I had always understood that a pocketbook was a very specific type. It’s the small handheld one, maybe with the zipper or the clasp on top. It’s probably about the size of a book and maybe has accordion size or cost size, so you open it up, and it’ll hold just a few things like your money, your credit cards, ID, glasses, what have you. But it doesn’t have a strap. That’s what I had understood pocketbook to be.

Well, now what you’re describing, Grant, I would call a wallet. What about you, Wally?

Yeah, that to me would be a wallet. But whether it was usually the kind of bags we carried back in the 40s, 30s, it wasn’t very large, but it did go over my shoulder. Sometimes it would be, you know, small, but I never called it anything but a pocketbook, and I didn’t know if that was because of the Northeast or the South didn’t call it a pocketbook. We didn’t have paperbacks back then.

Right, right. Well, do you ever use the word purse then?

Now I do.

You do?

For the same thing, for the same article.

For the same thing. So I was not having a senior moment when I called it a pocketbook.

Well, I wouldn’t call it a senior moment. I would call it maybe a generational moment.

Yeah, it’s very unlikely. Generational moment. Young ladies in their 20s. All my friends, my aunts, my grandparents, my grandmom always put stuff in her pocketbook.

At least you cleared that up. I’m happy to hear that.

Well, we’re really glad you called, Wally. I’m sure we’ll hear about this from other folks. Thanks, Wally.

Bye-bye.

All right, take care.

Bye.

You know, purse is an interesting word. I didn’t realize until recently that if you purse your lips, it has to do with the kind of old leather purse with the leather strap, you know, that you draw, like purse strings.

Right, so it pulls everything tight.

Yeah, and so your lips look like the top of a little purse, you know, bag that’s drawn together like that.

Never occurred to me. We know there’s a generational difference in the words that you use. See if we can help you sort it out. 877-929-9673. Email words@waywordradio.org.