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Post by OnlyMark on May 14, 2015 17:57:38 GMT 2
My daughter has just had an English test. One set of questions was to marry up the British English word with the American English word from two lists. E.g boot//trunk, sweets//candy etc etc I was curious about one question regarding what a woman would have. My question is, what do you call this in American English - And then, what do you call this in American English -
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Post by Scrubb on May 14, 2015 19:22:34 GMT 2
I think they're both a "purse" although I'd say "coinpurse" for the second one.
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Post by kuskiwi on May 14, 2015 20:48:37 GMT 2
Possibly handbag and wallet but then again I'm not American.
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Post by welle on May 14, 2015 21:31:08 GMT 2
Purse, second one (assuming it's small) I'd call a wallet.
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Post by welle on May 14, 2015 21:33:39 GMT 2
Clutch is a word for a smallish purse without a handle/sling. I've only seen it in fashion magazines though so I doubt that's the word they're looking for for the second one.
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Post by Voy on May 15, 2015 1:45:54 GMT 2
I'd call the first one a handbag and the second a wallet
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Post by tzarine on May 15, 2015 2:18:19 GMT 2
purse changepurse
but there are many american regional variations handbag pocketbook
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Post by Scrubb on May 15, 2015 3:25:53 GMT 2
To me, a wallet has spots for bills and credit cards, not just coins. That picture looks like it's just for coins, though of course you could roll up some notes and stuff them in too.
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Post by OnlyMark on May 15, 2015 8:27:16 GMT 2
The problem was my daughter had to marry up the word handbag with purse. She asked me which was UK English and which was USA English. I said that they were both UK but meant different things. Then I thought, well what do USAians call a purse then?
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Post by Scrubb on May 15, 2015 19:12:59 GMT 2
Ah. Well, coinpurse, or maybe wallet (though like I said, I think of a wallet as opening flat so that notes and cards can go in it).
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Post by happytraveller on May 15, 2015 20:12:53 GMT 2
I'd call the first one a handbag and the second a wallet Dito.
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Post by missalaska on May 15, 2015 20:37:52 GMT 2
First one handbag and second one purse, but I'm English, don't know what the septics would say ;-)
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Post by mapletree3 on May 16, 2015 0:19:50 GMT 2
I'd call the first one a purse and the second one a wallet.
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Post by shrjeff on May 16, 2015 0:24:35 GMT 2
the problem in such exercises is that many words are in both dialects, occasionally with different meanings and occasionally merely synonyms... the top one can be either a purse or handbag in merkin... the second one depends upon its size: if it larger it can be a purse (not a handbag) or a wallet... if smaller it would be the coin purse mentioned previously... and could also be a clutch purse, too...
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Post by shrjeff on May 16, 2015 0:26:11 GMT 2
The problem was my daughter had to marry up the word handbag with purse. She asked me which was UK English and which was USA English. I said that they were both UK but meant different things. Then I thought, well what do USAians call a purse then? and a purse in merkin is when one puckers up the lips as to whistle...
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Post by OnlyMark on May 16, 2015 7:08:15 GMT 2
So if puckering your lips is to purse them then when your arse puckers is it pursed also?.........(sorry, 'ass')
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Post by OnlyMark on May 16, 2015 7:22:15 GMT 2
mapes, then if the second one is a wallet, what do you call a wallet (for a man)? Also a wallet? Then how do you differentiate between the two?
Anyway, as far as I'm concerned I like simplicity. A handbag is a bag for a female that has a handle to carry it. A purse has money in and goes in the handbag. If a purse has a handle it is no longer a purse but a handbag. A clutchbag is smaller than a handbag but bigger than a purse...... like a purse on steroids. A man carries a wallet, usually flat and has folding money and/or credit cards in it. If he has something that carries coins in, then it is a purse and he is a wimp. Coins are carried loose in the front right pocket. Man-bags should be wiped off the face of the earth and the owners taken out into the desert and shot. I'd never carry one as it interferes with my knuckles scraping the ground.
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Post by Netsuke on May 16, 2015 8:25:40 GMT 2
First one handbag and second one purse, but I'm English, don't know what the septics would say ;-) Same here, but I'm Australian. When I google "wallet", these show google image - walletIf you google "coin purse" you get this coin purseThis is my coin purse
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Post by Voy on May 16, 2015 14:29:46 GMT 2
yes - to the walwt wuestion...both men's and women's are wallets. miine is basically flat but jjas a skinny little section with a clasp for a few coins...
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Post by Voy on May 16, 2015 14:30:23 GMT 2
ooops -- tried to use both hands.. no good; sorry
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Post by pizzawheel on May 17, 2015 0:25:26 GMT 2
I think the answer is there, a handbag is a purse and both sexes use wallets.
Remember usanian coins are pretty much worthless as they switch to paper at a dollar- the most valuable coin, a quarter, is worth something like 15p. The yanks that came up to the old office didn't know what to do with the canuck dollar/ 2 dollar coins. The one working for me ended up using a sandwich bag.
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Post by trentt on May 17, 2015 2:46:07 GMT 2
First one is a purse.
Second one is a tampon-holder.
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Post by Netsuke on May 17, 2015 6:32:17 GMT 2
Pizzawheel, we have $1 and $2 coins but our government wasn't as smart as the NZedders - their $2 coin is bigger than the $1 (coin), while our $1 coin is bigger than our $2 one. It caused quite a confusion when I came back from NZ - I'd hand over a $2 NZ coin for a dollar!
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Post by pizzawheel on May 17, 2015 13:03:23 GMT 2
I guess maintaining the size of a coin relative to its value is tricky over the years. Here the ten cent dime is a tiddy little things, the five cent is much more substantial.
Nothing like the english 2p which is just stupidly big.
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Post by Netsuke on May 18, 2015 13:36:42 GMT 2
Nothing like the english 2p which is just stupidly big. Yes, I know, I always had plenty of them, and the piddling little 5p coins were a bugger to find amid all that copper. Even bigger were the pennies when we had pounds, shillings and pence. The copper coins, ha'pennies and pennies were heavy. The penny (30.8mm) was bigger in size than the two shilling coin (28.5 mm) and half penny was the third biggest size at 25.5mm. If you had 10 pennies, they weighed nearly 100 grams.
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Post by pizzawheel on May 18, 2015 15:23:45 GMT 2
I've stopped accumulating the smaller coins in my pocket; nickels go in a tub which i'll dump in a charity box when full. Dimes I collect at the office to pay for a coffee once a month or so. And quarters I keep in the car for parking.
Loonies and twonies are spendible! Though I wish the latter were called doubloons. Much smarter.
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Post by mapletree3 on May 18, 2015 18:41:18 GMT 2
Doubloonies would be perfect.
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Post by welle on May 19, 2015 7:00:29 GMT 2
A man carries a wallet, usually flat and has folding money and/or credit cards in it. If he has something that carries coins in, then it is a purse and he is a wimp. Coins are carried loose in the front right pocket. Man-bags should be wiped off the face of the earth and the owners taken out into the desert and shot. I'd never carry one as it interferes with my knuckles scraping the ground. Which brings us to the topic of a man-bag or man-purse aka murse.
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Post by welle on May 19, 2015 7:11:20 GMT 2
Some wear the murse more convincingly than others.
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Post by welle on May 19, 2015 7:21:00 GMT 2
A murse can be manly but is even more difficult to pull off than the notorious pink shirt. Few murses have ever added to the manliness of the wearer.
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