# 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:** 3
**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, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/41 "2012-08-15T21:55:10Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I never knew that mens’ shirts were once called blouses. Growing up (60’s/70’s) I occasionally heard the jersey of a baseball uniform described as a “blouse”. It made sense since until roughly the early 1960’s baseball jerseys were baggy relative to other men’s shirts. Then they got skin tight, and then semi-baggy, but the word disappeared and now I never hear it for anything except women’s clothing, and even then not so often. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/42 "2012-08-15T22:06:56Z")
Replies so far have nailed it. My ~85-year old grandmother calls it a pocketbook. She’s the only one who I’ve ever heard use the term. (Other fun anachronisms I learned as my grandfather’s favorite phrases: “Well I’ll be a son of a gun”, and “How about them apples?”) ---
**Author:** ![Cub\_Mistress](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea666f/32.png) [@Cub\_Mistress](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cub_Mistress)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/43 "2012-08-15T22:28:31Z")
I hear pocketbook to mean a purse all the time here in the South, but it usually older people. The small leather object that holds my credit cards cash and a few pictures is my wallet. The bag it is in is my purse. I only hear handbag, crossbody,satchel etc from snooty purse salesladies. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/44 "2012-08-15T22:28:33Z")
> [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > Growing up (60’s/70’s) I occasionally heard the jersey of a baseball uniform described as a “blouse”. It made sense since until roughly the early 1960’s baseball jerseys were baggy relative to other men’s shirts. Then they got skin tight, and then semi-baggy, but the word disappeared and now I never hear it for anything except women’s clothing, and even then not so often. And then, to add to the confusion, there is also the verb “to blouse”. It is possible to blouse a man’s shirt, although a man’s shirt is rarely called a blouse nowadays. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/45 "2012-08-15T22:30:18Z")
> [@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. I’m not sure what I assumed it meant. > [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](#): > > 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. Yes. I’ve heard the term “vote their pocketbooks” and tended to think it meant “wallet”. But, I’ve also seen references to a woman taking some good sized object and “putting it in her pocketbook”, without ever wondering “how the heck did she fit _that_ in a _wallet?!_”. > [@Balance](#): > > Well, the line you quoted from **Siam Sam** included “A ladies’ top, yes.” That is, ladies’ tops are often commonly called blouses but other shirts (presumably men’s shirts and unisex shirts) are not. Actually men’s and unisex shirts are sometimes called blouses. I’ve seen the term used to refer to military uniforms for men; “he pulled on his uniform blouse”. It’s _mostly_ a term for female clothing these days, but not universally. From the [Wiki page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blouse): > [@](#): > > A blouse is a loose-fitting upper garment that was formerly worn by workmen, peasants, artists, women and children. It is typically gathered at the waist (by a waistband or belt) so that it hangs loosely (“blouses”) over the wearer’s body. Today, the word most commonly refers to a woman’s shirt but can also refer to a man’s shirt if it is a loose-fitting style (e.g. poet shirts and Cossack shirts). Traditionally, the term has been used to refer to a shirt which blouses out or has an unmistakably feminine appearance. > > The term is also used for some men’s military uniform jackets. ---
**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, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/46 "2012-08-15T22:44:28Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Yes. I’ve heard the term “vote their pocketbooks” and tended to think it meant “wallet”. But, I’ve also seen references to a woman taking some good sized object and “putting it in her pocketbook”, without ever wondering “how the heck did she fit _that_ in a _wallet?!_”. I have a thought, but I’m not sure how to verify it: how old is the term “vote with their/your/my pocketbook(s)”? Does it pre or postdate women receiving voting rights, in whichever country the term is from? Google isn’t helping. > [@](#): > > Actually men’s and unisex shirts are sometimes called blouses. I’ve seen the term used to refer to military uniforms for men; “he pulled on his uniform blouse”. It’s _mostly_ a term for female clothing these days, but not universally. From the [Wiki page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blouse): A lot of these are from French. A chemise in modern English is women’s sleepwear that is kind of sexy. In French it’s a… men’s dress shirt. They would use chemise de nuit for the former, or maybe that’s camisole, I don’t really know the difference. Blouse some sort of overgarment. And of course, the Australian word “thongs” is less gendered in other Anglophone countries. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2012, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/47 "2012-08-15T22:50:36Z")
Pocketbook and purse are synonymous to me. The terms are interchangeable and I hear both. (New York) ---
**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 16, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/48 "2012-08-16T01:31:00Z")
My very American MIL uses the term “handbag.” My mom calls it a pocketbook, and I say purse. My daughter is very confused. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/49 "2012-08-16T01:37:58Z")
I’ve always thought a pocketbook was the thing you put inside a purse (or just carry around I guess). When I was a little kid if my mom had asked me to get her her pocketbook I would’ve known to go into her purse and get out the thing inside. It’s like a wallet but bigger. Like one of [these](http://parkwaydrycleaning.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/multi-purse.jpg) (specifically the long ones on the right). ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/50 "2012-08-16T01:46:44Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Yes. I’ve heard the term “vote their pocketbooks” and tended to think it meant “wallet”. But, I’ve also seen references to a woman taking some good sized object and “putting it in her pocketbook”, without ever wondering “how the heck did she fit _that_ in a _wallet?!_”. Men’s wallets were more capacious at one time, too. I seem to recall at least one Civil-War era reference to a man drawing a cheroot from his wallet. It was presumably a flat notecase that also had room for his cigars. > [@](#): > > Actually men’s and unisex shirts are sometimes called blouses. I’ve seen the term used to refer to military uniforms for men; “he pulled on his uniform blouse”. It’s _mostly_ a term for female clothing these days, but not universally. From the [Wiki page](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blouse): Hence my use of the qualifier “commonly”. I’m familiar with poet’s shirts, which unquestionably blouse (and are remarkably comfortable, though probably unsafe if you’re operating machinery). ---
**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 16, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/51 "2012-08-16T03:12:45Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > 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). > [@tdn](#): > > 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? > [@Acsenray](#): > > You hear men’s shirts being called blouses all the time? The outdated usage I think is being described is that any loose-fitting top, even when worn by a man, could be a “blouse.” > [@tdn](#): > > I was unaware that we were talking about men’s clothing. In fact I searched for the word in the entire thread and there was not one reference to men’s shirts. Was that the assumption? > > I just e-mailed a female friend and asked her what a woman’s shirt is called, and she used a few terms including blouse. And I’m pretty sure she’s not over 80. > [@Balance](#): > > Well, the line you quoted from **Siam Sam** included “A ladies’ top, yes.” That is, ladies’ tops are often commonly called blouses but other shirts (presumably men’s shirts and unisex shirts) are not. I fear I did not make myself clear. Yes, I have always heard ladies’ tops or “shirts” called “blouses.” Always. I have never ever, not even once in my life that I can recall, heard a man’s shirt referred to as a “blouse.” That practice, from what I can tell, died out along with 18th-century highwaymen. Now, how about “wallet” versus “billfold”? I think there may have already been a thread on that. But I do believe I heard both while growing up, but “wallet” definitely the majority of times. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/52 "2012-08-16T14:48:41Z")
For me purse and pocketbook are the same thing. I have seldom heard handbag, it’s the same thing except I think of handbags as being the larger type of purse or pocketbook. A wallet holds money, credit cards, pictures, etc. and is carried in the purse, pocketbook or handbag. For men a wallet is what is carried in the back pocket and holds money, pictures, credit cards, little slips of paper with phone numbers, etc. A billfold is a thinner wallet that carries only money. A money clip is made of metal and holds folded bills. A little black book is where a man compiles all those little slips of paper with phone numbers, usually in alphabetical order by first name. Sometimes there are star ratings. Sometimes the little black book would fit in the wallet right next to the condom, sometimes not. A blouse is a womans dressy shirt. It is made of a thinner material and should have a collar and buttons, possibly lace or frills. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2012, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/53 "2012-08-16T23:52:18Z")
My Granny is from small-town Amish country Indiana, and she’s always called her purse a pocketbook. She also calls a couch a davenport, for what it’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![missred](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/missred/32/14096_2.png) [@missred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missred)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/54 "2012-08-17T01:35:07Z")
> [@Dr.Girlfriend](#): > > My Granny is from small-town Amish country Indiana, and she’s always called her purse a pocketbook. She also calls a couch a davenport, for what it’s worth. Great Og! Are you my cousin? 😛 I grew up where your granny did, with a hillbilly mother and a father with both PA Dutch and Polish roots. My dad (like his mother before him) uses pocketbook and davenport. My mom uses pocketbook and sofa. Both use billfold for the thing a man carries his cash / plastic in. Me? I’ve lived quite a few years of my adult life in the midsouth and tend to use pocketbook more than purse. ---
**Author:** ![zweisamkeit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zweisamkeit/32/4360_2.png) [@zweisamkeit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zweisamkeit)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/55 "2012-08-17T16:10:42Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > I was unaware that we were talking about men’s clothing. In fact I searched for the word in the entire thread and there was not one reference to men’s shirts. Was that the assumption? **SiamSam** apparently did, though he phrased it in a way that mildly grinds my gears (but let me stress I don’t believe he intended to or anything). Apparently _men’s_ shirts are “normal” shirts, and [del]women’s[/del] ladies’ shirts are [del]abnormal[/del] ladies’. Men’s = Normal Women’s = Women’s :dubious: ---
**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 17, 2012, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/56 "2012-08-17T16:14:51Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > **SiamSam** apparently did, though he phrased it in a way that mildly grinds my gears (but let me stress I don’t believe he intended to or anything). Apparently _men’s_ shirts are “normal” shirts, and [del]women’s[/del] ladies’ shirts are [del]abnormal[/del] ladies’. > > Men’s = Normal > Women’s = Women’s > > :dubious: If that’s all you have to worry about, then you’re doing pretty good. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/57 "2012-08-17T16:41:01Z")
Why do Americans call leather pocket money envelopes “wallets”? They don’t go on a wall. ---
**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 17, 2012, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/58 "2012-08-17T16:51:34Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Why do Americans call leather pocket money envelopes “wallets”? They don’t go on a wall. Not even remotely parallel. “Pocketbook” is clearly a compound of the common words “pocket” and “book.” “Wallet” has no etymological connection to “wall.” You’re suggesting that no one should ever be curious about the origins of a particular usage, which would be a surprise to any linguist. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/59 "2012-08-17T17:26:47Z")
> [@zweisamkeit](#): > > **SiamSam** apparently did, though he phrased it in a way that mildly grinds my gears (but let me stress I don’t believe he intended to or anything). Apparently _men’s_ shirts are “normal” shirts, and [del]women’s[/del] ladies’ shirts are [del]abnormal[/del] ladies’. > > Men’s = Normal > Women’s = Women’s > > :dubious: Yeah, but a size is “normal” if it is sized in inches or cm, and not normal if it has some arbitrary number or anme. 😉 > [@Acsenray](#): > > Not even remotely parallel. “Pocketbook” is clearly a compound of the common words “pocket” and “book.” “Wallet” has no etymological connection to “wall.” You’re suggesting that no one should ever be curious about the origins of a particular usage, which would be a surprise to any linguist. Why do they call it “woosh”? It’s not like you have to scream “woo” when it happens. And what’s the deal with airline food? ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573/60 "2012-08-17T17:35:27Z")
I read about pocketbooks in Sweet Valley High in my tweens (before that word existed), and tentatively theorised that it meant [day planner](http://www.google.com.au/search?tbm=isch&source=mog&hl=en&gl=au&client=ms-android-telstra-au&tab=wi&q=dayplanner&sa=N&biw=320&bih=450#i=15). Then they started puling stuff other than money in and out of it and I wondered how they fit their lipstick (etc.) in there. Day planner… It’s sort of pockety, and book-like. Personally, I keep my money and credit cards in my purse, which I carry along with a metric ton of accumulated junk in my handbag. I noticed on Google image search that if you enter purse, you get images of handbags, but if you add “site:au” (no quotes), you get coin purses, which has made me reflect that what I call my purse is actually a ladies wallet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-americans-call-purses-pocketbooks/631573.md?page=4)