# Levis little pocket **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 7, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689 "2009-03-07T23:57:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/21 "2009-03-08T08:21:35Z")
I used to use the fifth pocket for a pocket watch. I’ve always been drawn to pocket watches for their air of Edwardian gentlemanhood, but once I started carrying a cell phone on my hip the watch became mostly, but not entirely, redundant. The “not entirely” part is that I could simply lay the watch out in the sun when I was reading on my lunch break, so I knew what time I had to go back. With the cell phone, I’d have to handle it, or open the flip for the time to light up. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/22 "2009-03-08T08:29:25Z")
Xanax and vitamins or my house key. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/23 "2009-03-08T09:15:45Z")
The black cyanide pill. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/24 "2009-03-08T14:07:29Z")
> [@tattman40](#): > > Does anybody use that little sub-pocket on the right side of Levi denim jeans? I dont recall ever puting anything in there. I would hazard a guess that it is a watch pocket. Your guess is correct. It has kind of atrophied over the years and I doubt it ever really held a pocket watch-even back in the days of pocket watches (they are jeans after all), but the pocket is useful and I expect them on my jeans. I tend to store notes and screws and small temporary items in the pocket. I have purchased jeans in the past without the pocket. That taught me to check before buying. ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/25 "2009-03-08T20:48:44Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > The black cyanide pill. You should get one that looks like a mole and glue it to the back of your hand. Quicker access, in my [DEL]experience[/DEL] opinion. And don’t get the generic equivalent… ---
**Author:** ![Lucky\_13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucky_13/32/13209_2.png) [@Lucky\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky_13)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/26 "2009-03-08T21:00:15Z")
It’s small enough to carry $1.25, one-way bus fare around here. I’ve also used it for my house key. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/27 "2009-03-08T21:21:22Z")
By golly, my pocket watch _does_ fit in there. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/28 "2009-03-08T21:37:38Z")
I also use it as a pill pocket - hold’s a day’s dosage of whatever is needed to cure my ills. Though from watching _Cops_ I’m a bit leery about being found with medication that isn’t in an approved prescription bottle and as a result suspected to be a dealer. The pocket is also handy if you find a valuable rare coin in change or seeds of some nifty plant you spotted by the roadside. We need more of these handy pockets and less of those &\*$&! trap doors in underwear briefs. ---
**Author:** ![PopeJewish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/29 "2009-03-08T23:38:38Z")
I used to use it for my pocket watch back in high school, then I got a nice wrist watch. I still put on my pocket watch every now and again cause I like the look, but too many people mistake it for a wallet chain (one asshat even broke the damn thing, back in high school, proclaiming it to be “the weakest wallet chain” he had every seen so he tugged on it really hard. I kicked him in the shins but still had to get the thing fixed) now I don’t use the thing for much, to be honest. I carry a little change pouch around (cause there are TONS of coins in Japan) but occasionally I find some use for it. I find it uncomfortable to keep a pocket knife in there, though. > [@Jackmannii](#): > > We need more of these handy pockets and less of those &\*$&! trap doors in underwear briefs. Agreed. I only buy boxers with the button-fly on them (which I never button) cause I hate the gods damned multi-layered security gates I have to get through with the freakin trap door kinds. I understand that’s a sanctified area of holiness, and prosperity, but I don’t need castle walls surrounding it. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/30 "2009-03-08T23:47:43Z")
That’s where I keep my change. I love it- I wish all my other pants and shorts had that little pocket. I do wish, however, that the left pocket had the little pocket instead of the right… or, even better, if it was on both sides. I keep my cash in my left pocket, and my keys in my right… it irritates me that I have to keep my cash and my change on separate sides. ---
**Author:** ![Lillith\_Fair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bb73d2/32.png) [@Lillith\_Fair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lillith_Fair)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/31 "2009-03-08T23:58:19Z")
I heard once that it was used back during gold rush days to put gold that had been found. It sounds crazy. Because you couldn’t put much gold in there. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/32 "2009-03-09T00:09:46Z")
> [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](#): > > Xanax and vitamins or my house key. I’ve used it for vitamins or prescriptions as well, but usually not anymore since I got a little canister for that which goes on my keyring. But growing up I’d always heard it was for coins since nobody carried pocketwatches. It would have been a good place to carry anything from a half-dollar on up, back when that was a lot of money. Similarly, I would expect, with any small amount that you might have set aside for some specific purpose, like a nickel for the streetcar or subway, or things that cost a small, odd number of cents, like newspapers. Then again, I realize that most of my examples come from urban settings, and people certainly didn’t wear jeans much on city streets, 75 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/33 "2009-03-09T00:25:34Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > But growing up I’d always heard it was for coins We believed it to be for our lunch money when I was a kid, but nobody used it for that. My MP3 fits in there now. ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/34 "2009-03-09T01:29:50Z")
That pocket became the home for my spare truck key, after locking myself out one too many times… ---
**Author:** ![BigNik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/73ab20/32.png) [@BigNik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigNik)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/35 "2009-03-09T01:40:46Z")
The fob pocket was, indeed, meant to hold your fob watch. But I usually use it for coins or if I’m carrying something semi-sharp like a single key that I don’t want poking a hole in my main pocket. ---
**Author:** ![PopeJewish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@PopeJewish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PopeJewish)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/36 "2009-03-09T01:55:58Z")
> [@lawoot](#): > > That pocket became the home for my spare truck key, after locking myself out one too many times… I got a wallet key for that. basically a key that has very little handle and is small enough to fit in your wallet ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/37 "2009-03-09T03:09:15Z")
Earrings, if I ever need to take them out. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/38 "2009-03-09T12:55:28Z")
I don’t like it for change because it’s hard to fish it out, sort of scooping it sideways with my forefinger. Doesn’t work for me. I keep my car key fob in there. I have two regular keys hanging from the fob, which just sort of dangle in front of the big pocket. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/39 "2009-03-09T12:59:31Z")
It’s handy for coins and medication. Other than that, there isn’t much that fits (I suppose I could try **corkboard** ’s use with my car key, but I don’t need to get at it often enough to bother). ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689/40 "2009-03-09T13:07:18Z")
They’re the perfect size for a USB memory stick, I’ve found. Otherwise, they’re good for coins (especially if you’re travelling on a Toll Road; it’s a pain the ass to get your wallet out of your pocket, get the coins from it, then- and this is the frustrating part- get your wallet back _into_ your pocket. Whilst driving. Much easier to just fish a couple of gold coins out of the fob pocket and throw the change in the car’s ashtray (I don’t smoke, FWIW.) You can also carry a ballpoint pen there quite nicely, which is very useful if you’re wearing a T-shirt. (Dad- a writer and highly experienced journalist- always tells me “Don’t go anywhere with a a pen”- and believe me, it’s _excellent_ advice.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/levis-little-pocket/488689.md?page=3)