The word budget derives from French bougette, “leather bag.” An old phrase in English to open one’s budget, meant “to speak one’s mind.” The word purse is related to French bourse, a word for the stock market. This is part of a complete episode...
In anatomical nomenclature, a bursa is a fluid-filled sac that helps cushion a joint. Bursa is the Latin word for “purse,” the source of English purse itself, as well as the bursar who controls the purse strings in a college, plus...
Patricia in Crescent City, California, grew up hearing fussbudget, so fussbucket for a teething child sounded both wrong but oddly sensible. Fussbudget, meaning someone ill-tempered, overly critical, or full of fuss, goes back at least to 1870. The...
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...
Does your vocabulary mark you as old or outdated? Certain words really indicate generational gaps, like chronological shibboleths. For example, are thongs panties or flip-flops? And what do women carry around — a pocketbook, a purse, or a bag? Your...
A Dallas man says his grandmother used to carry around washcloth a plastic bag in her purse. When he and his siblings would get their hands dirty, she’d say to them, “Show me your paddywackers,” and they’d hold out their...