# Two traveling cases, obviously English. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 8, 2018, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-traveling-cases-obviously-english/806159 "2018-01-08T20:23:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-traveling-cases-obviously-english/806159/1 "2018-01-08T20:23:47Z")
I’ve been listening to a mega collection of Arthur C. Clarke stories and have recently finished _The Parasite,_ first published in 1953. The story takes place on a Mediterranean island which is frequented by well-off tourists. Here is a line towards the end of the story which has been bugging me: > [@](#): > > Two traveling cases, obviously English, were stacked in a corner of the hall, waiting for a porter to move them. Idly curious, Pearson glanced at the labels to see who his compatriot might be. Now, Clarke’s short stories vary pretty widely in quality and this is a comprehensive collection. It may just be a bit of weak writing to justify the character looking at the labels - an act which speeds us directly to the story’s climax. Assuming otherwise: what (short of a Union Jack plastered across the front) might make a pair of traveling cases from the writer’s time period “obviously English?” We can discount anything on the labels, since the character glances at them _after_ discerning the luggage’s point of origin. We can also rule out that it meant generally western-style, since he knew it was owned by a ‘compatriot.’ Was English baggage in the 50s unique in some way? ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-traveling-cases-obviously-english/806159/2 "2018-01-08T20:32:05Z")
Labels in this context presumably means name tags as it informs Pearson who the travelers. Pictures I’ve seen sometimes show multiple destination tags from old trips. I suppose those cold provide clues. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-traveling-cases-obviously-english/806159/3 "2018-01-08T21:49:37Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#): > > .Was English baggage in the 50s unique in some way? I can’t, sadly, answer the first part of your question, but, yes, of course. Before everything was manufactured in China and distributed by global companies, travel luggage was just as distinctive as clothing was (before everything was manufactured in China and distributed by global companies). Design, material, color, cut, dimensions, fittings. But you’d have to be a seasoned traveler to actually recognize distinctions. The words give you one clue: that’s a travel case. How does that differ from a suit case, a carpet bag, a gladstone bag, a duffle bag, a footlocker or a steamer trunk? Just by custom the English would have been traveling with different equipment than people from different countries and people who had traveled longer or shorter routes. I don’t have any details about Arthur Clarke, but he went to live in Ceylon in the 1950’s, which probably means he’d already done some traveling and was used to seeing the differences between English/French/American luggage. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-traveling-cases-obviously-english/806159/4 "2018-01-08T22:06:46Z")
The stuffed bear sitting on top was the clue. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-traveling-cases-obviously-english/806159/5 "2018-01-08T23:03:02Z")
Cool details, **Melbourne**! Thanks.