Office workers in Richmond, Virginia, are having a dispute: Is the appliance that makes the coffee a coffee pot or a coffee maker? This is a classic case of synecdoche, where a single part—like the pot that holds the hot coffee—is used to refer to...
Whether that bag for personal belongings is a purse, handbag, or pocketbook appears to be less about region than generation. Wally in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, grew up in Philadelphia saying pocketbook, but a Florida acquaintance knew the same sort...
