In a message dated 10/5/2002 4:00:56 PM Mountain Standard Time, NJ-MEMORIES-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: > Frank calls his wallet, a"pocketbook", I think thats funny. > My recollection is that "pocketbook" was originally the term for a man's wallet. In fact, Louisa May Alcott used the term in "Little Men." She was referring to Silas, who worked at the school she wrote about in the book, and she said that he called his pocketbook a "wallet." I can see where the term came from; a wallet folds like a book and goes into a pocket. Don't ask me how the transition was made to a lady's purse. But I grew up calling that little convenience a "pocketbook" and could never make any sense out of the name. Doris in Colorado (Up2Nutrix@aol.com) "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." -- Jim Elliot, missionary and martyr