Inklings: A purse by any other name... | Columnists | Summerville Journal Scene

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Inklings: A purse by any other name...

Published Thursday, January 21, 2010 12:35 PM

By Barbara Lynch Hill
Summerville Journal Scene ®

To some it’s a pocketbook, to others a handbag, to many a clutch, and to those in the Victorian, Regency and Edwardian eras, it was a reticule. To me, they’re all a pain in the nether regions. I have a thing for them, whatever they’re called. It’s not a fetish: it’s more an aversion.

If someone could invent a purse that would morph from a beige straw to a brown leather, that would be ideal. I’d use the former in spring and summer and the latter in fall and winter. It’s changing that’s the problem. I always forget something – like my checkbook, or credit cards, or daily calendar. Whatever I forget, it’s just what I need at the moment, and causes much grief.

Size is also a dilemma. I so admire those women who can hold in one hand a purse that contains all their wants for an outing. I need a tote size bag to carry a wallet, a change purse, a checkbook, makeup (more is required every year), keys, a notebook, extra paper and pens, camera, batteries, film if appropriate, and a tape recorder with tapes. The latter eight items have been necessitated by my profession for the last half century. Then of course, tissues, meds (because of advancing age) a folder for grandchildren’s pictures (well, naturally), cell phone and because of the current flu season, a hand sanitizer. I recently added a new application: a handbag holder. This allows me to hang my purse on a restaurant table, a department store counter or a restroom ledge for convenience in all those places.

My purses grew to such proportions that the doctor advised me to get one with wheels to cure the ache in my left shoulder. I got a small rolling backpack and it works fine for meetings, but not for social occasions. So, I still change purses. And still forget things.

Curiosity led me to explore the history of handbags. To my amazement, they go back centuries. They were first used by the Babylonians and Assyrians beginning in 1500 BC. Ancient Persians pinned small pouches to their golden girdles to hold money. It was a custom for a ruler to turn over the revenues of a captured land to his wife, and she would slip the money in the pouch – thus the term pin money, which is still used in our language today.

Over the years, purses used by men and women were hung from the waist. These changed to satchels and something called a sabretache for toilet articles. In the mid 1800s women tucked money bags into the bosom of their dresses and men carried currency in small leather drawstring bags on belts. By the late 1800s the pocketbook was introduced, initially a flat container with separate compartments.

Since then all kinds of purses have been developed – necessitating more changing. I recently heard of a woman who keeps purses in her car trunk. She selects the one which coordinates with her outfit as well as her destination. Then she transfers all the innards in her driveway before setting out.

This is all too much for me. Just let me know when that invention is finished that switches from straw to leather. Consider it a standing order.

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