# Usage: How did "out of pocket" get its current meaning? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2019, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-how-did-out-of-pocket-get-its-current-meaning/829124 "2019-02-07T15:34:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2019, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-how-did-out-of-pocket-get-its-current-meaning/829124/41 "2019-02-08T20:34:47Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > Exactly the same for me. I’m from the Pacific Northwest part of the USA, and briefly lived in Kansas and also for a couple of years on the island of Guam. It seems to be a regional thing from parts of the South to use it as slang for “unavailable”. > > My (completely speculative) assumption is that it refers to something unavailable to you because you don’t have it with you; not in your pocket. But again, I’ve never in my life heard this phrase used in that sense before this thread, and I’ve been a professional for over 20 years working in small business, big business, and government. It’s not a common usage in the professional world, but perhaps in a certain field or region. It’s extremely common in the NY area, at least in the banking world. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2019, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-how-did-out-of-pocket-get-its-current-meaning/829124/42 "2019-02-08T21:37:57Z")
Speculating on the growing popularity of this usage – I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that American working culture highly discourages the idea of ever being off the clock. So, people don’t actually want to say “I’ll be unavailable” in such stark terms. They use a metaphor like “out of pocket” just so they don’t have to say the literal words, because it feels like you’re not taking work seriously enough if you ever dare not to be available. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2019, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-how-did-out-of-pocket-get-its-current-meaning/829124/43 "2019-02-08T23:35:09Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Huh. I have never heard this usage of the term. Good to know in case I come across it. I wonder if it’s regional/generational/etc. I’ve heard it used in exactly the sense the OP notes in both a US and a British movie within the past year (I want to say the US movie was The Office Christmas Party, and whatever the British movie was, it had Martin Freeman in it with him using the phrase…maybe Ghost Stories?). It doesn’t seem generational, either, because it’s being used by both by a guy who is middle aged, and in one in their 20-30s. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2019, 7:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-how-did-out-of-pocket-get-its-current-meaning/829124/44 "2019-02-09T07:58:50Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I’ve heard it used in exactly the sense the OP notes in both a US and a British movie within the past year (I want to say the US movie was The Office Christmas Party, and whatever the British movie was, it had Martin Freeman in it with him using the phrase…maybe Ghost Stories?). It doesn’t seem generational, either, because it’s being used by both by a guy who is middle aged, and in one in their 20-30s. Just to clarify, the OP actually notes both usages, are you saying that you’ve heard the “unreachable” form in a British movie? because that would seem deliberately obtuse to me. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-how-did-out-of-pocket-get-its-current-meaning/829124/45 "2019-02-11T19:16:55Z")
This is one of those coincidences that happen. I had never heard the second meaning (not available, out of the office) until I read this thread. Later that very same day, I saw the phrase used, unmistakably with that meaning, in a book that I had already started reading. So far, it’s the only time in that book that the phrase has been used. I dunno. It struck me. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-how-did-out-of-pocket-get-its-current-meaning/829124/46 "2019-02-11T19:42:36Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > This is one of those coincidences that happen. I had never heard the second meaning (not available, out of the office) until I read this thread. Later that very same day, I saw the phrase used, unmistakably with that meaning, in a book that I had already started reading. So far, it’s the only time in that book that the phrase has been used. > > I dunno. It struck me. More likely, that was an example of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, also known as the frequency illusion: > **[The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon](https://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon/)** > > You may have heard about Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon before. In fact, you probably learned about it for the first time quite recently. If not, then you just Basically, you notice things that you’ve been recently introduced to. (Later that day…the frequency illusion! I had never heard of that before, and it came up twice today!) ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-how-did-out-of-pocket-get-its-current-meaning/829124/47 "2019-02-11T20:59:43Z")
In researching the above answer, I also came across this Wiki page: > **[List of cognitive biases](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases)** > > Cognitive biases are systematic patterns of deviation from norm and/or rationality in judgment. They are often studied in psychology, sociology and behavioral economics. > Although the reality of most of these biases is confirmed by reproducible research, there are often controversies about how to classify these biases or how to explain them. Several theoretical causes are known for some cognitive biases, which provides a classification of biases by their common generative mechanism (such as noisy... Then, no fooling, when looking through my Twitter feed later, I see that someone I follow wrote: “Wikipedia’s List of Cognitive Biases is one of the Top 10 most essential pages on the internet” and linked to that page. Whoa! It’s a frequency illusion about pages that discuss frequency illusions. We’re through the looking glass here. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2019, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-how-did-out-of-pocket-get-its-current-meaning/829124/48 "2019-02-11T23:29:16Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > More likely, that was an example of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, also known as the frequency illusion: Yep. Good phrase/concept to be aware of. That said, hasn’t happened for me with this particular usage yet, but it’s happened to me sooooo many times in the past with recently discovered definitons, words, concepts, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-how-did-out-of-pocket-get-its-current-meaning/829124/49 "2019-02-12T00:12:40Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > More likely, that was an example of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon, also known as the frequency illusion: > > [The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon • Damn Interesting](https://www.damninteresting.com/the-baader-meinhof-phenomenon/) > > Basically, you notice things that you’ve been recently introduced to. > > (Later that day…the frequency illusion! I had never heard of that before, and it came up twice today!) I thought about that (not those exact terms, but in that ballpark) and I also considered whether, had I run across the use of this common phrase with an obvious meaning with which I was not familiar, I would have questioned it. I think I would have noticed it. So I’m not entirely abandoning my coincidence theory, but I respect the alternative. Coincidences do actually happen, if not as often as we usually think. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2019, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-how-did-out-of-pocket-get-its-current-meaning/829124/50 "2019-02-12T19:44:38Z")
For most of my life I’d only heard “out of pocket” used to mean you have to pay for something yourself, unable to rely on insurance or any other third-party source of funds. Only in the past few years have I heard it used, by corporate types and by my sister (who’s always quick to pick up on new or new-ish slang), to mean they’ll be unreachable because they’re on vacation, a long flight or in a remote area. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-how-did-out-of-pocket-get-its-current-meaning/829124.md?page=2)