Just wondering

[Wilson Gray]

FWIW,my wife, who's from Wilkes-Barre, speaking of Pennsylavania.
doesn't recognize any distinction between "purse" and "pocketbook."

Also, FWIW, I don't consider what I call a "change purse" to be a
purse in the sense meant here. If my wife asked me to get her purse,
it would never occur to me to look inside her pocketbook for her
change purse.

IAC, I'd say that it's clear that, for some people, "pocketbook" and
"purse" name distinct objects and cannot be interchanged. Whew! That's
a load off my mind! ;-)

-Wilson

On 12/29/06, GSCole <gscole at ark.ship.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       GSCole <gscole at ARK.SHIP.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Just wondering
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In my mind, a purse is smaller than a pocketbook; a purse may be carried
> inside of a pocketbook.  A coin purse is the smallest purse of which I'm
> aware; small enough to be carried in a trouser side pocket.
>
> George Cole
> Shippensburg University
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Brenda Lester
> Sent: Fri 29-Dec-06 17:19
> Subject:      Re: [ADS-L] Just wondering
>
> 2) "Pocketbook" and "purse" are interchangeable.
>   I've always considered a purse to be smaller than a pocketbook. A
> pocketbook has all your work-a-day junk in it; a purse is for a few
> necessary items.
>
> Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 2) Is there anyone for whom the words "pocketbook" and "purse" denote
> different objects? Not "can" or 'could," but _do_.
>
> -Wilson
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
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-----
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