Just wondering

Alice Faber faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU
Fri Dec 29 20:02:20 UTC 2006


Jim Parish wrote:
> Wilson Gray asked:
>
>> 2) Is there anyone for whom the words "pocketbook" and "purse"
>> denote different objects? Not "can" or 'could," but _do_.
>
> Scot LaFaive replied:
>
>> For #2, I consider a pocketbook as a large wallet for women and a purse as a
>> bag with a shoulder strap.
>
> That's my understanding also. (My visualization of a pocketbook is
> something that can be conveniently held in one hand; a purse is rather
> larger than that, in my head.)

Well, just for an opposing point of view. A pocketbook is what my mother
  (and her mother, before her) calls a purse.

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Alice Faber                                     faber at haskins.yale.edu
Haskins Laboratories                          tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
New Haven, CT 06511 USA                             fax (203) 865-8963

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