Fashionistas you have arrived 3-25-03 - 10-3-03

[leagleaze]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
I'm confused. In my experience, Americans say pocketbook when they mean handbag, not when they mean ladies' wallet, as in the womens' equivalent to a billfold, that is, the thing in which you stash your driver's license and currency.

But I am from the much maligned Long Island, so take it for what it's worth.

First you had pocket books, which were literally books that fit in the pocket. Then you had pocketbooks, small cases that looked like books, or were at least shaped like books, that fit in the pocket. They normally belonged to men. At some point it began to cover a small bag carried by women in which they placed their belongings. And it just stuck I imagine.

[NotFromHere]

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
I'm saying sometimes I can pick out seattlites. Dunno why, really, but I think the proximity to Vancouver sometimes shows in the accents. The ones I pick out are freaked out, too - though I've only done it when abroad.

Maybe it was because they were wearing Mariner shirts?

But no, people from Vancouver sound like they're from Vancouver eh? NO ONE in Seattle says Zed or eh. And if they say Warshington - they're from eastern Oregon.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by NotFromHere
Maybe it was because they were wearing Mariner shirts?

But no, people from Vancouver sound like they're from Vancouver eh? NO ONE in Seattle says Zed or eh. And if they say Warshington - they're from eastern Oregon.

Ah the great Zed debate. I've seen flame wars start over whether the letter is pronounced Zed or Zee. Of course, the Commonwealthians are wrong. But it's cute to watch them try and argue the point.

[mmm3587]

Originally posted by str8outavannuys

1) Where was the interesting explanation/plot twist about who tipped off the cops? Oh that's right, there wasn't one. Zzzzzzz.

2) The stakes aren't really high enough. 'If I go into prison being so good looking, someone's gonna take my be-hymen.' Well, you're not that good looking anyway, and though prison-rape is obviously an awful thing, I just don't think that the fear of it is a great enough force to justify everyone's behaving the way they do. 3) If he's that good looking now, he's going to be good looking when the bruises heal in a few days. Dumb-ass.

On the other hand, Anna Paquin is just too fine for words. And that redeems all, n'est-ce pas?

1) You missed the explanation? It was the big Eastern European (Russian?) guy who was his buddy for most of the movie. At the end, the other mobsters give Monty the chance to kill him.

2) I think that those stakes are pretty high, and the point is that this is a guy who have never been in trouble, never done time, etc. He's just dealing wholesale and gets caught once. So, he goes from living with hot girlfriend, cool dog and nice leather couch to prison, which carries with it the (disgustingly likely and unfortunately accepted by society) risk of rape.

3) You've seen too many movies. If you get the shit beat out of your face like in that movie, it will never look as good again. Plus, I can believe that if you get into prison looking all fucked up, people won't fuck with you.

[NotFromHere]

It's ZEE and POP. Get it right. And it's FORWARD, BACKWARD, TOWARD. NOT Forwards backwards and towards.

[purse junkie]

Originally posted by robustpuppy
I'm confused. In my experience, Americans say pocketbook when they mean handbag, not when they mean ladies' wallet, as in the womens' equivalent to a billfold, that is, the thing in which you stash your driver's license and currency.

But I am from the much maligned Long Island, so take it for what it's worth.

A pocketbook is a handbag is a purse. A woman's wallet is a wallet, unless it's one of those leather checkbook covers that has a change purse and slots for credit cards built in, in which case it's a 'checkbook.' And waist packs are 'that thing that makes your huge American ass look even more egregiously bulbous.'

I've been debating what to call these new "European carryalls" for men that don't have the heft of a messenger bag but that you can't call a purse because that would be a kick in the 'nads to a guy's masculinity. "Mandbag" maybe? Guys, what can you accept without being worried your male friends will call you a sissy and beat you up on the playground?

[leagleaze]

I came across this interesting bit from Ms. Post on dating and engagement.

http://www.bartleby.com/95/20.html

[Penske_Account]

Originally posted by Bad_Rich_Chic
I'm saying sometimes I can pick out seattlites. Dunno why, really, but I think the proximity to Vancouver sometimes shows in the accents.

You're good, but you're no Karnak. After all, I told you I was from Seattle before we met.

Unless I didn't really say it but rather you used me like a ventriloquist's dummy and threw your voice out of my mouth.

Wow, you are good!

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by str8outavannuys
2) The stakes aren't really high enough. 'If I go into prison being so good looking, someone's gonna take my be-hymen.' Well, you're not that good looking anyway, and though prison-rape is obviously an awful thing, I just don't think that the fear of it is a great enough force to justify everyone's behaving the way they do.

I don't mean to be gross about it, but the repercussions of prison rape are rather more dire than people imagine. A pretty young thing has a decent chance of getting all his teeth knocked out on day one, the better to orally service the gang. It's a recognized strategy to volunteer to be the punk of some big dude for protection early on, but that doesn't protect you from the HIV. The above applies to state prison. If you're doing federal time, YMMV.

The fact that prison rape has become a running joke in American culture is an embarassment.

[Bad_Rich_Chic]

Originally posted by NotFromHere
But no, people from Vancouver sound like they're from Vancouver eh? NO ONE in Seattle says Zed or eh.

Of course not, but there is much more to accents than the obvious, isn't there. As you may have noted, I tend to focus on vowel sounds, which, being particularly maleable, tend to be more subliminally influenced by environment and less easy parts of pronunication to change through education or training (or later exposure to much TV plugging the north chicago accent favored by newscasters).

[greatwhitenorthchick]

Originally posted by NotFromHere
But no, people from Vancouver sound like they're from Vancouver eh? NO ONE in Seattle says Zed or eh. And if they say Warshington - they're from eastern Oregon.

I have always found it interesting that accents change so dramatically as soon as you cross the border. There is this crossing from New Brunswick (the Canadian province, not the NJ town) to Calais (pronounced "callus"), Maine, where the people sound totally different ("bahh hahbah" on one side and "berrr herberrrr" on the other) and yet they are only separated by a few feet and interact frequently.

Originally posted by TexLex
In general, accents don't bother me so much as incorrect usage of language. Irregardless, it's just something one learns to deal with.
-TL

ir·re·gard·less ( P ) Pronunciation Key (r-gärdls)
adv. Nonstandard
Regardless.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Probably blend of irrespective, and regardless.]
Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.

Source: dictionary.com

Was your use of the "word" irregardless intended as a joke given the preceding sentence? If so, I can deal with it.

[boobjob]

[i]Guys, what can you accept without being worried your male friends will call you a sissy and beat you up on the playground?

Two comments: 1) You must not spend much time in Europe if you think Americans are the only ones with large asses, 2) From the female perspective, I don't want a man to carry anything other than a wad of cash to spend on me. Manbags, satchells...whatever...look like purses. Men don't carry purses. Skinny little Euroboys carry purses.

[Bad_Rich_Chic]

Originally posted by purse junkie
A pocketbook is a handbag is a purse.

It is a "bag," not a handbag. Oh, hell, that battle was lost 60 years ago, nevermind. It's an old snobbish distinction - "of course my bag is small and decorative and carried in the hand, this is presumed, do you think I have to make the effort to distinguish myself from laborer carting wheat or something?"

"Pocketbooks" were originally small books meant to be carried in the pocket (duh - but see below, "pocket" didn't originally mean what you think). First use a bit after 1600. At this time, books carried around often had cloth covers, rather larger than the book itself, that had draw-string edges that you pulled together to protect the book itself (a convention dating back some centuries before that). Books also being expensive, they were the bag/covers were quite elaborate and were carried about displayed so everyone could see that you could afford (i) a book and (ii) the education to read. Anyhow, it resembled a small drawstring bag when carried about. The association with women was probably earlier than most etymologies indicate (early 19th C), because the small books in these cases were most often small illustrated devotional books very, very commonly carried by women. Big scholarly books for men stayed in the libraries.

Incidentally, "pocket" originally also meant "bag" (anglo-norman "pokete" from OF "poque," surviving in "pig in a poke"). So more literally, "pocket book" originally meant "little book in a bag" rather than "little book stuck in an interior compartment of your clothing."

A bit later, and more probably the source of the current meanings, "pocket book" meant a mens compartmentalized bag that opened like a book and was folded in half and fastened shut to be carried around, usually used for carrying papers and other things you didn't want' rumpled (hence, the folding).

It is now US standard for "bag carried in the hand by a woman," but there are still regional pockets of older use.

A "purse" carried money (still does usually). It used to always be gender neutral, and regionally still is, but is often used for men in that way only as a euphemism for "prize."

A bag was a bag, whether for man, woman or animal.

A wallet (walet) was originally, c. 1300, either a bag for holding junk or a folding container for protecting or organizing papers (see the later meaning of pocketbook).

Originally posted by carp
ir·re·gard·less ( P ) Pronunciation Key (r-gärdls)
adv. Nonstandard
Regardless.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Probably blend of irrespective, and regardless.]
Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.

Source: dictionary.com

Was your use of the "word" irregardless intended as a joke given the preceding sentence? If so, I can deal with it.

Yes. I'm glad you got my joke.

-TL