Interrupting your blog reading
August 31, 2007
For this important question:
Is pocketbook really a weird outdated word? I always say pocketbook. (or more accurately pah-ka-book)
To me, purse: pocketbook :: panties: underwear.
Let’s have a little vote.
Posted by Chris @ 4:26 pm
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I think it’s an eastern thing (like soda instead of pop). Tony Danza once asked his daughter (lives in Calif) if she had her “pocketbook” with her, she asked him why she would need to bring along reading material.
August 31st, 2007 at 4:32 pmI just call it my bag.
August 31st, 2007 at 4:36 pmMy great-grandmother said pocketbook so I love the word, but never say it.
August 31st, 2007 at 4:41 pmtoo big to be a pocket book, too big to be a purse… I just call it my bag. my big bag-o-crap.
August 31st, 2007 at 4:44 pmPocketbook is a New England thing. I grew up in MA and call a pocketbook. My sister moved to San Francisco and when she told someone she was going pocketbook shopping they looked at her like she had 5 heads.
August 31st, 2007 at 4:46 pmYeah, pocketbook…don’t think I’ve ever said it. But if I did, I’d be talking about my billfold/wallet, not the whole purse.
Fun poll!
August 31st, 2007 at 4:49 pmI’m in the west, and it’s a purse. Sometimes I think of a wallet as a pocketbook, but a purse isn’t a pocketbook to me. And for what it’s worth, in our house girls wear panties and boys wear underwear.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:00 pmI just grab my bag.
Since it’s had diapers, snacks, and toys in it for years, I can’t really call it a purse. But half the time I forget to restock the diapers and so it’s not really a diaper bag, either.
I like the term “satchel” but it’s too cumbersome.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:13 pmdiaperbag if it’s the whole bag,
pocketbook to me is a wallet/billfold
a purse is that inbetween size bag that I don’t get to carry anymore since I had another baby.
oh - and I hate the word panties (HATE. IT.) They are underwear in our house!
August 31st, 2007 at 5:18 pmI hate all of those words and am glad I don’t carry any of those. I just use a wallet thank you. Heh.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:18 pmPocketbooks are made of white patent leather, and old ladies carry them to church.
Handbags are big, shlumpy bags loaded with junk that you hit the mugger with when he tries to grab them.
I’ve lived west of the Mississippi most of my life and I’ve always heard purse.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:18 pmHere in the south, we always say Purse. Oprah had a show on last season where she discussed the different words people use around the country. She started out with the pocketbook v. purse debate and ended with “what do you call your girly bits?” Now THAT was interesting!!
August 31st, 2007 at 5:21 pmI’m in the South, and I would say purse (say: purrrrrr-se). Interesting that what you say depends on where you live!
August 31st, 2007 at 5:21 pmWhat’s a pocketbook? I haven’t seen the outside of a diaper bag in 11 years, even when I go out without a diapered kid.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:24 pmI always thought pocketbook meant your billfold. I dunno…
August 31st, 2007 at 5:24 pmIt’s Purse. Alway’s has been, always will be.
Panties are for sissies. We wear underwear. (Leanne, I hate that word, too).
August 31st, 2007 at 5:27 pmI’m originally from NJ and still live in the eastern half of the US, but I call it purse. I think my mother always said “pocketbook.” And “ditty bag” (for whoever brought up the fact that her grandmother uses that term) is what the military calls a carry-all bag.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:29 pmI grew up in MA and it was always pocketbook. Purse was something an old lady carried (like panties and sofa). Now I live somewhere else and I find myself saying purse. It could just be that I’ve become old though.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:29 pmI would say purse if I could ever get the word I want to say to actually come out of my mouth. Usually, I snap my fingers trying to get the word to come out and the best I do is “bag of crap”.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:32 pmI say pah-ka-book most of the time (I’m in MA, so there may be something to this New England thing). Sometimes I use handbag, but not that often. I hate, hate, hate the word purse. That, to me, is a big ol’ granny bag, usually white, hard leather with gold buckles and a short handle that was worn over the arm and could be used to whack people about the head when they misbehaved.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:36 pmMy Northeastern grandmother calls it her pocketbook, so I’ve always thought of that as very old fashioned. And Leanne, I know what you mean about the P word… I can’t even bring myself to type it. Wretch.
Interesting poll, though!
August 31st, 2007 at 5:36 pmI love your post. It always makes me smile.
It’s a purse. And it’s leather. And while there may be a name on the inside, most times you would not know that name from the outside. And the colour changes with my mood or the season. Thank God, my diaper bag days are over.
And to bring up a horse that has been beaten to death elsewhere, while I would not spend $400 on a haircut, I would on a purse.
It’s a choice thing.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:40 pmFunny, but I don’t like to carry a pocketbook/purse or any such thing. I like the oversized wallet that I can stuff everything into!
But when I do…it’s just a bag to me!
August 31st, 2007 at 5:41 pmI really hate carrying any kind of bag, so when the opportunity arises, I give all my stuff (nay, crap) to my husband to put in his one of many pockets. I don’t carry much so it’s not too much of an inconvenience.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:44 pmMy grandma called her purse her Catchall. She was also a fan of calling all pants “Trousers”.
It’s my “bag”, dude.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:46 pmMy grandma called it a pah-ka-book. My mom called it a purse. For me, if it has all the kids things in it too it’s my bag, if it only holds my things it’s my purse. Mostly I have bags, and mostly they are way too unisex to be called anything else- that way I can make hubby carry them when we are out together and he doesn’t whine
August 31st, 2007 at 5:50 pmI think it is an east coast thing too. My mother-in-law also said pocketbook, but I’m a midwestern girl and I carry a purse.
August 31st, 2007 at 5:53 pmMy grandmother and my great grandmother called it a pocketbook. I call it my purse. The word purse never reminded me of an old woman’s bag. Hmmm.
August 31st, 2007 at 6:04 pmI think pocketbook is east coast, but it’s dying out, along with purse. Most teenagers refer to it as their “bag”. It’s pretty neutral, can refer to any kind of bag… I think that younger generations are giggling these days when people say purse and pocketbook, even though that’s what I grew up saying…
August 31st, 2007 at 6:04 pmOfficially, I voted PURSE, but in reality, it is my catch-all. There is enough crap in my purse to feed and shelter my kids for 3-4 days.
August 31st, 2007 at 6:15 pmPocketbook, panties. I do wear panties, but if an item doesn’t fit in my pockets and I don’t want to carry it in my hands I don’t need it that badly. It stays home.
August 31st, 2007 at 6:21 pmI hate the word panties….oh it is one of those repulsing words to me!
August 31st, 2007 at 6:45 pmI love them and own many and I call them bags. I grew up in Michigan and we always called them purses, but somehow that word became a little skeevy to me so I stopped saying it. I think the word panties is kind of skeevy, too, so now it’s underwear.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:05 pmFunny that some people say purse is an old lady word. I think pocketbook is an old lady word. Guess it really is regional.
And I never knew so many people hated the word panties. It’s such a fun little word! Panties! Panties! Panties!
Ok, so maybe I just sent a few women into fits…sorry!
August 31st, 2007 at 7:06 pm[...] Clark Interrupting your blog reading » This Summary is from an article posted at Notes from the Trenches — fighting the war on tantrums [...]
August 31st, 2007 at 7:20 pmPersonally, I’m giggling about the fact that the John Edwards people are clicking over here to find a post about purses and panties.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:28 pmPurse for me (and I grew up in PA, lived in CT for five years and now live in CA, if it matters, and have always called it a purse). And I HATE, DESPISE, LOATHE (did I mention HATE?!?) the word panties. Im with you–it’s underwear.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:41 pmP.S. I always think of pocketbook as an “old lady” word. Interesting…
August 31st, 2007 at 7:45 pmOnly my grandmother said pocketbook, but she also called a couch a chesterfield. And panties? Nah, undies.
August 31st, 2007 at 7:54 pmI thought of Pocket Book as being some sort of Notebook.
The bag I carry all my ” junk” in I just call by bag and what I carry my money and credit card around in my purse.
Carolynn
August 31st, 2007 at 8:01 pmI think it is safe to say that if you call it a pocketbook, you can be called grandma. Then again, I still say hair dresser.
August 31st, 2007 at 8:27 pmHmm, I think now I usually call it a purse, though I remember my grandma always called hers a pocketbook, and I’m pretty sure the two were interchangeable for my mom. I do use pocketbook too, every once in a while though. I think of pocketbooks as being bigger than purses. I never use the word panties, unless I’m referring to my own “granny-panties” LOL
ps. I can see how “satchel” wouldn’t work in your house! ROFL though somehow the image of the little old lady bashing someone merging with the image of your dented freezer does make it work….
August 31st, 2007 at 8:28 pmI had to de-lurk because this is something that I’ve often been teased about. I believe it is a north eastern thing because I’m in PA and my whole family agrees that it’s a pocketbook (said just as you said!) And they are definitely underwear, can’t stand the word panties!
August 31st, 2007 at 8:41 pmYou know, I use purse & pocketbook interchangeably. I also use the term “my bag” lol I guess it depends on my mood? I’m from NJ so that could explain alot too… ; )
Handbag sounds old-fashioned to me and satchel sounds like something from the 1800’s LOL
August 31st, 2007 at 8:52 pmThis is so hilarious. I don’t think I’ve ever thought about the use of the word “pocketbook” so much in one day!
August 31st, 2007 at 8:54 pmI just call it my “bag.” My grandma had a pocketbook, my mom has a purse, I have a bag.
August 31st, 2007 at 9:05 pmEast coast - pocketbook
Midwest - purse
West coast -? not sure
underwear only….panties makes me think of perverts?
August 31st, 2007 at 9:13 pmOMG Kath, I thought the same thing but didn’t want to write it, lol. Totally makes me think of pervs.
August 31st, 2007 at 9:19 pmPocketbook = Old people. I am weird though about what I call mine…if its designer I call it a bag. If I get it at Target or somewhere like that I call it a purse.
August 31st, 2007 at 9:25 pmI absolutely HATE to carry a purse but if I didn’t where would I put all my “cr**” ????? I hate carrying it so much that I try to only shop where they have carts so I don’t have to carry the darn thing.
August 31st, 2007 at 9:25 pmThe panties thing? I’m the only female in my house, and I looove telling my sons & husband, “Here is your laundry; put your panties away.” Or, “Did you put on clean panties?” Makes them squeal [like girls]. Life can be fun.
August 31st, 2007 at 9:34 pmPocketbook must be a Yankee thing–I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone call it that. I’m a purse girl. (At least, I WAS until mine was stolen yesterday…)
August 31st, 2007 at 9:37 pmI always called it a pocketbook growing up (in Massachusetts), but no one where I currently live (Virginia) knows what the hell that is. So now I call it a purse. But I still drop my “Rs”, so I think that makes up for it.
August 31st, 2007 at 9:40 pmMy grandmother, who would have been 110 today, had a pocketbook, as does my husband’s 89-year-old grandmother. Both lifelong Kentuckians. MIL, age 60, raised in Florida and Georgia, has a pocketbook. Mother, age 65, Kentuckian, purse. Friends, mostly 40’s, from various places, purse. Daughter, age 18, and her friends, Kentuckians, bag–especially if it’s one of their faux designer ones.
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one that can’t stand the word panties. Ewwww!
August 31st, 2007 at 9:45 pmPocketbook is so yesterday! lol…my dh’s almost 88 year old grandmother even says purse! But she does say billfold! Ha, can’t win ‘em all. Love your blog Chris.
Oh yeah, do you have any money in that pockabook?
August 31st, 2007 at 9:45 pmI say bag, because I feel weird using all the other ones. My mom (New England) called it pocketbook, and so does my friend Kathy (also New England, but a generation younger than Mom).
Saying pocketbook makes me feel old (and/or like my mom, which is not necessarily the same thing, but is equally dreaded), and saying purse makes me feel all hoity toity and barbie-doll-ish for some reason. So I say bag, but it feels like a last resort, which I guess it is.
I also hate panties. Underwear it is.
August 31st, 2007 at 10:12 pmin new zealand we don’t say pocketbook, nor do we say panties.
August 31st, 2007 at 10:14 pmpurses are purses, underwear are underwear or maybe ’smalls’. and you don’t really hear wallets being referred to as a ‘billfold’ either.
I voted for “purse” even though I only use it on the rare occasion I’m going somewhere w/o kids or only have the older, diaper-free kids with me. Otherwise my answer to what I carry all the stuff in would be “diaperbag”.
August 31st, 2007 at 10:35 pmTo me a purse is something only used in the days of black and white movies. It’s a pocketbook now.
August 31st, 2007 at 10:57 pmI just say bag anymore, as I never know what I’ll be carrying - cloth bag, back pack, a real purse (rare) camera bag - w/all my crap crammed in… Even when I carried a pocketbook - I didn’t call it that.
August 31st, 2007 at 11:03 pmpocketbook is so my grandma. When I read the word, I hear it in my head in her voice
August 31st, 2007 at 11:13 pmPurse is so one of those flattish, squarish, leather bags, with the metal clasp at the top and the two handles attached by rings to the clasp. The queen carries a purse.
Pocketbook or bag.
August 31st, 2007 at 11:48 pmHandbag. My mother carries a purse. I, because I have style, carry a handbag. I think it comes from looking at too many Kate Spade ads on ebay. Particularly Sam. How I would heart a Sam handbag.
September 1st, 2007 at 12:07 amIn Australia we say bag, my Nan says handbag. A purse or wallet is what we put our money in. I didn’t know what a pocketbook was!!
September 1st, 2007 at 12:16 amWhen I was catching up with your archives, I used to think “How could she carry around diapers in her ‘pocket- BOOK’”
September 1st, 2007 at 12:31 amI voted for hand bag but often I call it a ‘bag’!! And you were right I carry around lots of crap in it. A few months back it caused me a slight shoulder pain (I hang it in my shoulder so that I can use both my hands to do stuff)…
In Southern CA, we say “purse.” I’ve never heard it called a pocketbook out here or even a bag, I don’t think. Just a regional thing, I would imagine…
September 1st, 2007 at 12:55 amNo it is not a New England thing. It is just an old term. Here in the Midwest it was common when I was a child and I heard all the ladies in my family using it. I think of the word kind of nostalgically but rarely use it myself.
September 1st, 2007 at 1:04 amAs far as panties vs underwear there is most certainly a gender difference in my mind. I use both accordingly but recently my 13 year old daughter told me (who has heard it all her life referenced as panties) that the word makes her feel, “uncomfortable” and that she prefers underwear. Imagine my shock!
September 1st, 2007 at 1:08 amI think Pocket Book is a Connecticut/New England saying. I lived there for 2 years and when I’m carrying a nice purse, I’ll call it a pocket book. There’s no reason for doing so, I know.
September 1st, 2007 at 1:09 amI agree that pocketbook is a New England thing. I live in the Bay Area, and no one uses that term here unless they are from the northeast. I like it though, it always makes me think of people I’ve known who said it. I use the word purse.
September 1st, 2007 at 1:34 amLet’s see…grandma 1 (midwest) pocketbook; grandma 2 (also midwest) billfold; mom (california) wallet–to hold money– inside of the purse; me (california) wallet, inside of purse, inside of bag/backpack. As long as there is money inside, I don’t care what you call it! Oh, and males wear briefs and females wear panties, or non-gender-specifically they’re all called underwear, or undies. At least at my house
Fun to see the regional differences!
September 1st, 2007 at 1:56 amI voted pocketbook but I need to clarify. I call it a purse but I SAY pocketbook more often. Why? When my teenage daughters are sassy or do something naughty I tell them my pocketbook has just snapped shut. Meaning besides being disciplined they can also just forget about getting any money from me.
September 1st, 2007 at 2:18 amRemember those old pocketbooks? How when you closed them they really did SNAP shut with a distinctive thonk?
I carry a purse. That my dh calls a suitcase! Even though it really isn’t all that big.
I used to babysit a girl who had trouble talking and made up her own words for things. Underwear (or panties) were drillies, and they still are!
September 1st, 2007 at 7:14 amUpstate NY here - where it’s a pock-eh-book. Purses are tiny little things carried by the likes of Hollywood starlets who also don’t have toddler snacks and emergency changes of toddler clothing in big ole ziplock bags in their “purses”.
September 1st, 2007 at 7:44 amIn Ct here - I use Purse and Pocketbook pretty interchangeably, but thought of Purses as the BIGGER of the two, if I had to choose!
September 1st, 2007 at 7:50 ami was brought up to call the everyday one a pocketbook and the special / dressy ones either a purse or a handbag. weird huh? my dad who was born in 1918 always called his wallet a billfold and changeholder a purse.
September 1st, 2007 at 8:03 amI just said it yesterday to my kids - “wait a sec, I wanna look at the pahketbooks” I had no idea…..
September 1st, 2007 at 8:03 amI always think of a pocketbook as one that is really small and you have to carry it because it doesn’t have a strap or handle. And you can just put in like lipstick, a mirror, a small set of keys, and a coin purse…maybe a pen or two.
A purse is what I normall carry. And a bag is a huge old thing that can fit the contents of a diaper bag, or in my case, a couple of books and all of my college crap for the day (except the REALLY heavy stuff).
September 1st, 2007 at 9:35 amI think of pocketbook as one of those cute old fashioned words. Mine is a purse.
September 1st, 2007 at 10:53 amI always use purse and dont recall ever calling it anything else. I do recall my grandmother saying pocketbook but pronounced like you spelled it and she is from Maine. So it must be an EC thing? She also said Pahk tha cah too and lunch was dinnah (dinner) and dinner was suppah (supper)! My grandparents are the only ones I have EVER heard refer dinner to supper. I loved her acccent and miss is so much.
September 1st, 2007 at 11:08 amDefinitely an East Coast word. And I love hearing it, just like sneakers and soda, it reminds me of my childhood in PA.
September 1st, 2007 at 11:11 amPocketbook is definitely a Northeastern word. My great-grandmother used the term also. But I do know what it means.
September 1st, 2007 at 11:12 amIn the Midwest they were purses or handbags. East coast - purses, handbags, pocketbooks - but we were in an area where people moved in from all over. In the West - purses. Handbags are large (tote bags?). Everyone wears underwear, but only girls wear panties, which are therefore prettier. However, it is VERY funny to tell a boy whose pants are “sagging” that you can see his panties. I do have one friend whose girls wear “underpanties” and whose boys wear “underpanters” - but that’s the only place I’ve hear underpanters.
Now - open up the couch/sofa/davenport debate. This could get fun. Also gutters/eave troughs. And, which syllable to emphasize on “umbrella” and “insurance”? Does roof have a long oo like boot? As I recall the Washington Post used to have a regular feature on localisms like that.
September 1st, 2007 at 11:36 amBeing a nurse and having lived in South Carolina for the past five years I’ve heard the term pocketbook used more often by little old black ladies to describe their “girlie parts” than what you carry your wallet around in. Being from the south I am a proud purse carrying, panty wearing, coke drinking (even if it is a diet Dr. Pepper) southern girl.
September 1st, 2007 at 11:37 amI purse and pocketbook interchangeably.
September 1st, 2007 at 12:52 pmUmmm..should have said “I USE ‘purse’ and ‘pocketbook’ interchangeably.”
Typing too quickly.
September 1st, 2007 at 12:52 pmUsing Andrea’s comment as a guideline:
Purse.
Panties.
Soda.
Sounds like some kinda survival kit. ;^)
September 1st, 2007 at 12:54 pmI always called it a pocketbook when I was a kid because that’s what my grandma called it. Then when I turned about 20, I realized that my grandma was the only person saying “pocketbook”. I conformed to “purse”. My husband, however, calls it “the treat bag” because it is huge and is used to smuggled movie treats (and the occasional 2 liter of soda) on dates every weekend.
September 1st, 2007 at 1:54 pmI have lived in MA all my life and always say ‘pocketbook’(more like pock-a-book). Oh, and I never, ever say ‘panties’. It’s underwear. lol
September 1st, 2007 at 1:56 pmI just call it a bag, as do most of my friends unless I’m calling it by the specific type of bag it is (e.g. tote, clutch, etc). This confuses my dad (and other older people), who calls women’s bags purses. But when I say purse I think of a small coin purse, or of the cash prize for some race. I’d call a clutch a purse, I guess, too, so it must have something to do with size like Sarah said.
So Bag, Panties, Pop.
September 1st, 2007 at 2:30 pmThis is a really interesting discussion! I’m afraid I can’t agree with you yankees that pocketbook is an east coast thing, as, in addition to the relatives that I mentioned above, I know a lot of southerners that say pocketbook, especially older ladies. And Heather, if you want to hear dinner called supper, just head south. Most people here in Kentucky now say lunch and dinner, but some older people use dinner instead of lunch, and supper instead of dinner. If you go down to Alabama where my sister lives, everyone eats dinner at noon, and supper in the evening.
September 1st, 2007 at 3:05 pmI’m with Lynn. I’m from Alabama and I say pocketbook (as does a friend of mine who is from Georgia). Also, my whole family says dinner and supper and ridicules me for saying lunch and dinner now that I’ve moved to Atlanta. So maybe it’s just a preference thing and not a location thing for what people call things. As for the word panties, it’s one of my favorite words. Anytime my husband is getting aggravated, I just shout “Panties, Panties, Panties”. It works like a charm.
September 1st, 2007 at 5:34 pmI am from western Canada, now living on the east coast. It is my purse, or my backpack. Sometimes it is just my bag. During my teens I swore I would never have a purse. That was back when I had more sports cleats than non-sports footwear. Times change. Sadly, during my university years I got used to having a backpack and that really was a purse that held books. At some point, I found I didn’t need the full pack, just a bag, a purse. Now I have a little purse, two back-pack purses, a bag purse, and a bazillion packs, some small, some extra big. So much for not conforming and carrying a tie-me down purse.
September 1st, 2007 at 7:35 pmI’m in Sydney Australia, I call my bag either my handbag, bag or backpack pretty much randomly, the handbag thing being a hang-over from pre-kid days when I carried such a thing. My money and credit cards live in a purse, though I recently switched to a mens wallet so no doubt I’ll end up using both of those terms randomly too. And we don’t have panties or underwear, they’re undies no matter who they belong to
September 1st, 2007 at 9:13 pmOh! And soda/pop/coke? That’s fizzy drink when you’re talking to kids or soft drink when you’re pretending to be an adult lol.
September 1st, 2007 at 9:15 pmAll of the old ladies and my aunts, mom and grandma call it a pocketbook here in VA. We youngsters don’t.
September 1st, 2007 at 9:45 pmweighin in here to say PURSE PURSE PURSE.
but then, my car is merely an EXTENSION of my purse. so what does that make me? (sloppy? uh, yeah)
September 1st, 2007 at 11:15 pmoh, and panties?
ew.
September 1st, 2007 at 11:15 pmI recently bought a pristine Coach bag at a flea market…it’s quite a f*ing cool bag.
September 2nd, 2007 at 1:58 amI’m usually carrying my pocketbook on the way to the package store to buy scotch whilst wearing my underpinnings.
Every time someone says panties I think of the episode of Seinfeld with “the panties your mother laid out for you.”
September 2nd, 2007 at 2:55 amI say purse.
September 2nd, 2007 at 10:30 amI am old school–I say pocketbook. My Mother used to call it that, my grammies too. Yeah I am old school for sure. What’s wrong with saying panties–I like saying panties–no I am not freaky…ok maybe. What else would you call them?
September 2nd, 2007 at 10:55 amI love that you have over 100 comments on this one blog post! And that I read them ALL because it’s such a fun tipic.
We say purse in Texas. And undies. We have a couch and we drink Coke (even if it’s something totally different like Dr. Pepper.) Our gutters need cleaning out and we day DEE-fence, as in ‘the the Department of.’
September 2nd, 2007 at 1:16 pmSigning in from Scotland to say here it’s a bag or handbag and the thing you keep your money and credit cards in (which you carry in your bag) is a purse. I’ve never really heard of pocketbook being used before. I would have assumed it was a notebook?…..
September 2nd, 2007 at 4:32 pmHmm.. I don’t really know what I call it, I have purses, wristlets, bags, pouches, satchels, who is to say! It doesn’t matter, as long as YOU know what it is!
September 2nd, 2007 at 6:06 pmAs for “underwear” and “panties” I call them “knickers” for female ones and “jocks” for male ones. Just to add a few more versions into the fray.
Carolynn
September 2nd, 2007 at 7:04 pmUndies, knickers and jocks here too, lol I never knew a bag could be called a pocketbook until today! It does seem strange as a bag is not a book, but it is certainly interesting learning about all the different names for the same thing all over the world
September 2nd, 2007 at 9:34 pmBag. Just…bag.
September 2nd, 2007 at 10:26 pmIt’s bag to me too. As in “Where’s my bag? Who moved my bag?!!”
Pocketbook is something my great grandma would have said.
September 3rd, 2007 at 2:26 amAaaaand delurking from Devon, UK, to say i’ve never heard the word pocketbook either, and would also have assumed it was a notebook like the Scot. I’m Irish though… don’t know about English folks. I just call mine my bag, but then i’m a bit of a tomboy. I’ve heard most people around here call the bag bit their handbag and the smaller one with the money their purse.
So funny to read everyone’s versions of things. I love the idea of a place where they call *all* fizzy drinks coke!
We know what ‘panties’ means here, but i hate the word, because it sounds so girly. Yuech. They’re all ‘pants’ to me.
Excellent blog btw, i love keeping up with your huge-family shenanigans!
September 3rd, 2007 at 9:10 amWe call them PocketPurses - because that’s what my daughter started called them when she was a baby and carried one around precariously on one arm whilst wearing Snow White high heel shoes. Like an Old Lady. In a baby girl’s body.
September 3rd, 2007 at 10:33 amI say purse. My grandmother who lived in Florida said pocketbook.
September 3rd, 2007 at 3:26 pmHas anyone mentioned wallet? That’s the thing I carry my money and credit cards in …. and it goes into my purse. If I had to use pocketbook, I would think it would be interchangable with wallet.
Is it relevant that no matter the term, NONE of mine have money in them?
September 3rd, 2007 at 5:34 pmI call it a diaper bag:) And will for many months to come….or so I’ve been told (he’s only 8 months so I am agreeing with that:)
September 3rd, 2007 at 6:44 pmI call it a diaper bag:)
September 3rd, 2007 at 6:44 pmWell here in Australia, i have never heard of pocketbook LOL
My larger bag, is just that, my “bag” or “handbag” and I have my “purse” or “wallet” which holds all of my money/cards etc that i either carry on its own but normally inside my bag with lots of other stuff like nappies and half of the household contents 
September 3rd, 2007 at 8:09 pmMidway between NYC and Albany..,definitely ‘purse’ or ‘bag’. Growing up in the 70’s however, it was all about the ‘pocketbook’. i.e.: My 70-year-old mother grabs her ‘pocketbook’ before we go out. But then again, she also tells me what she and her friends had for ’supper’. I don’t think my kids would even know what the word ’supper’ means; we have ‘dinner’ at our house, and we only live a mile away from where I grew up!:)
September 4th, 2007 at 12:17 ambackpack (and no, I’m not 22)
September 4th, 2007 at 7:14 amSo, have you ever thought that you left your pocketbook in your dungarees, but really it was on top of the davenport? Yeah, when that happens it’s like the bee’s knees and the cat’s pajamas all rolled up into one.
I call mine a wallet. My mom calls it a billfold. My grandma and Great-Grandma call it a pocketbook. There you go- a four generation answer to your question.
September 4th, 2007 at 7:34 amDefinitely a purse and defintely underwear.
I actually would have done the analogy just the opposite
purse:pocketbook::underwear:panties
Both pocketbook and panties sound old-fashioned to me.
Westcoaster by the way…
September 4th, 2007 at 1:48 pmMy wife calls it a purse.
My daughter and I call it her “Bag o’ Doom”
September 4th, 2007 at 9:10 pmAll the women in my family (including me) were born in New Jersey, so I definitely feel like there’s a New England thing going on here… I lived in the south (Atlanta, Memphis and Nashville) for 14 years before moving to the west coast and I must say that my mother and grandmother are still the only women I know who call it a pah-ka-book. I cringe inside when I hear my mother say it, since I long ago adopted the use of “purse”. And yes, someone else mentioned dungarees - I remember when I was little that she used to call them that, too.
Underwear all the way. Panties are not in my vocabulary.
September 5th, 2007 at 3:02 am17 years in this godforsaken state of PA and I still cannot bring myself to say “pocketbook” like everyone else here. I was quite startled when I first heard it from someone under the age of 70.
I actually use pockets for everything. I found all I need are credit cards, a little cash, and a lipstick. And all my clothes have pockets in them, and yes I am a walking fashion nightmare but at least I don’t have to carry a purse.
September 5th, 2007 at 9:42 amI say wallet, and I vacillate between panties and underwear. However, I say Jams instead of nightie, jammies, pajamas, etc.
September 5th, 2007 at 10:38 pmDon’t be asking me. I just found out what a “Coach” purse was (after a friend inadvertently cracked an egg in her Coach purse) and that people ACTUALLY spend like $300-500 on ONE! I could buy my whole wardrobe for that.
September 5th, 2007 at 11:07 pmMy friends and I all say “bag.” (Note: we are in our very very early 20s) My mother says purse. I think it’s generational.
September 6th, 2007 at 11:06 ampanties…gift…home(it’s your house, darn it)..slacks… the list goes on and on.
September 6th, 2007 at 10:29 pmStephanie Plum of the Janet Evanovich books always carries a pocketbook. For the first several books she often had big hair too. But she’s a Jersey Girl.
September 7th, 2007 at 5:31 pmIn Massachusetts I carried a pocketbook, as did my Mom. She still carries a pocketbook. I now carry a purse.
I think the clincher for me was the day my lovely midwesternish husband asked me if I had my pocketbook. Aw. How sweet, caving to my language.
It sounded completely ridiculous. I’ve carried a purse ever since.
September 7th, 2007 at 9:04 pm