# Why do Americans call purses "pocketbooks"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 15, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573 "2012-08-15T15:15:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/1 "2012-08-15T15:15:52Z")
I noticed it when I was little and reading Nancy Drew - she was always putting stuff in her “pocketbook”, which confused me because I was picturing a little paperback novel with her lipstick, etc. stuffed between the pages. Then I realized that “pocketbook” is another word for “purse”, but I’ve never heard it called that in Canada. Do they call purses “pocketbooks” in any other country? How did it get that name? ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/2 "2012-08-15T15:20:05Z")
It’s not all Americans, it’s just an older generation. My dad and older coworkers will call it a pocketbook all the time, but people of my generation (born in the eighties) never do. Kind of like how a shirt used to be called a blouse, but no one under the age of 40 calls it that. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/3 "2012-08-15T15:26:19Z")
And, just to confuse things “Pocket Books” was the name of a line of paperbacks. They had a kangaroo as its icon (because it has that pouch, after all). > **[Pocket Books](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pocket_Books)** > > Pocket Books is a division of Simon & Schuster that primarily publishes paperback books. > Pocket Books produced the first mass-market, pocket-sized paperback books in the United States in early 1939 and revolutionized the publishing industry. The German Albatross Books had pioneered the idea of a line of color-coded paperback editions in 1931 under Kurt Enoch, and Penguin Books in Britain had refined the idea in 1935 and had one million books in print by the following year. > Pocket Books was foun... ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/4 "2012-08-15T15:32:46Z")
It’s also slang for the vagina in some circles. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/5 "2012-08-15T15:33:51Z")
And handbag? Seriously? ---
**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:** [August 15, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/6 "2012-08-15T15:36:34Z")
Just to clarify, am I right in thinking that a “pocketbook” would be a purse small enough to fit into a pocket? ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/7 "2012-08-15T15:41:37Z")
Pocketbooks are small purses but not necessarily small enough to fit in a pocket, I think. (Well–maybe in large coat pockets come to think of it.) I was thinking maybe it was a “pocketbook” because it was a “book of pockets”, at least at some point in its evolution. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/8 "2012-08-15T15:42:02Z")
To me, pocketbook and purse are synonymous. My mom and women older than she will still say pocketbook. I’ll say purse or bag. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone say handbag outside of old TV shows or movies. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/9 "2012-08-15T15:55:29Z")
It originally meant “wallet,” as we call them today (or “billfold” as another generation might). Later it was extended to purses. Usage for either case has apparently dropped a lot. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/10 "2012-08-15T16:01:22Z")
I love to use the word pocketbook. I associate it with my small-town upbringing. It’s true it’s not much used, but if you do use it, everyone knows what you’re talking about. “Honey, grab me my pocketbook; I want to get my Nabs from this morning at the drugstore. Oh and a fresh pack of cigarettes.” ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/11 "2012-08-15T16:11:31Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > It originally meant “wallet,” as we call them today (or “billfold” as another generation might). Later it was extended to purses. Usage for either case has apparently dropped a lot. And as women’s clothes lost pockets and they started carrying purses, they put their “pocketbooks” in their purses (or “handbags.”) Eventually the names got merged. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/12 "2012-08-15T16:25:44Z")
I’ve lived my entire life in the US and have heard _of_ the term, but never made the connection to “purse” until this thread. I’m not sure what I assumed it meant. Handbag seems to be women’s clothing store-speak. Like how they never sell pants, but will sell you a “pant.” :rolleyes: “Clutch” is another term for what is basically a big wallet/small purse with no handles. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/13 "2012-08-15T16:27:19Z")
I never knew pocketbook as a synonym for anything other than wallet. Maybe because I was a boy so when my elderly grandmother told me to put a piece of paper in my pocketbook it _had_ to be my wallet. I also heard it in the political expression, “People vote their pocketbooks”, which was the pre-Clinton version of “It’s the economy, stupid”. In that context it meant wallet, since it applied to both men and women. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/14 "2012-08-15T16:32:47Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > Kind of like how a shirt used to be called a blouse, but no one under the age of 40 calls it that. I’d say no one under the age of 80. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/15 "2012-08-15T16:36:46Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > Kind of like how a shirt used to be called a blouse, but no one under the age of 40 calls it that. > [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > I’d say no one under the age of 80. Mid-50s and have never heard anyone call a normal shirt a blouse. A ladies’ top, yes. As for pocketbooks, that may be a regional usage. I never heard anyone, young or old, calling it that in West Texas. Or anyplace else I ever lived in the US (Southwest and Hawaii). ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/16 "2012-08-15T16:41:09Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I’ve lived my entire life in the US and have heard _of_ the term, but never made the connection to “purse” until this thread. Same. > [@](#): > > I’m not sure what I assumed it meant. I always assumed it meant those combination wallet/coin-purse/checkbook dealios that women kept _in_ their purses. I wasn’t ever around people who used the term too often, though. ---
**Author:** ![belladonna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9fc29f/32.png) [@belladonna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/belladonna)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/17 "2012-08-15T16:45:21Z")
From a 1980 piece in “American Speech” > [@](#): > > Pocketbook was originally just that: a small book that could be carried in the pocket. The OED shows that by 1685 it was understood also to be a “book for notes, memoranda, etc., intended to be carried in the pocket; a notebook; also, a book-like case of leather or the like, having compartments for papers, bank-notes, bills, etc.” In the last meaning the DAE\* attests its use in the United States since 1816. > > … > > Purse, pocketbook, and handbag are all standard terms reported from all parts of the country. Yet purse, according to DARE’s 569 responses, is not quite as frequent in the Northeast and coastal Atlantic states as it is to the west of those areas. In the eastern areas, pocketbook (395 responses) appears about as often as purse; but farther west, it becomes sparser. Both purse and pocketbook are distributed by age, community type, race, and education in correspondence with the total DARE sample. \*Diary of American Regional English My guess is that in the 30 some years since this was written, usage has further dropped. I was born in '77, in the Midwest, and “pocketbook” and “handbag” have always seemed old-timey to me. ---
**Author:** ![lisacurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/41988e/32.png) [@lisacurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisacurl)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/18 "2012-08-15T16:48:50Z")
[Why is a woman’s purse called a pocketbook?](http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/9112/why-is-a-womans-purse-called-a-pocketbook) TL;DR - evolved from meaning a book which could fit into your pocket, to a similarly sized case with compartments to carry books or papers. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/19 "2012-08-15T16:51:51Z")
My mom always had her pocketbook, ie purse. I always associate them with checks, though, for some reason. The pocketbook is the place you put your checkbook and money, in my head, and that fits with the ‘vote with your pocketbook’ . And yeah, if you think of pocketbook as the wallet you put your checkbook into, it can all fit into a purse. See? Easy peasy. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/20 "2012-08-15T16:59:15Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Mid-50s and have never heard anyone call a normal shirt a blouse. A ladies’ top, yes. This is new information to me. I hear blouse all the time. I guess this area didn’t get the memo back in 1942. I also hear bag and handbag a lot. In fact, and we’re going back some 30 years here, I had a friend who got absolutely incensed that someone called her bag a purse. Oh, the social cluelessness! Didn’t the social misfit know the difference? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573.md?page=2)