Just wondering

[Beverly Flanigan]

At 03:02 PM 12/29/2006, you wrote:
>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.
>
>--
>======================================================================
>Alice Faber                                     faber at haskins.yale.edu
>Haskins Laboratories                          tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
>New Haven, CT 06511 USA                             fax (203) 865-8963
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

I agree with Alice--and both can have straps (small or for shoulder) or not.

Beverly, a woman of the same generation, mas o meno

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org