| Author |
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Maria Conlon
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2005 8:02 am
Post subject: Re: Other kinds of bags [was: Plastic bags] |
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Jitze Couperus wrote:
| Quote: | Ray Heindl wrote:
Wood Avens wrote:
I'd have called it simply a briefcase, too, but I see that a US
briefcase-selling site calls this specific type a brief bag. I've
never heard it called that here (UK).
I've never heard that term in the US either. The bag in question I
would call a brief case, but the term is also used to refer to
attache cases ("Brief Case, rigid" in the page cited), so I would
need to explain the difference if it mattered. Maybe "lawyer's
brief case", to distinguish it from an attache case -- "barrister's
brief case" Rightpondially, I suppose.
Wow - In setting up that web page I never even thought of the
term "attache case" even though it is of course completely
familiar to me.
I associate "attache case" very specifically with the third picture
depicted on the page (a small suitcase) whereas I would never
use it to describe the one I was looking for (1st image)
So far, the term "briefcase" seems to be the best we can come
up with, but it still niggles me that somewhere in the recesses
of my cranium lurks a more specific term.
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My first reaction was "attache case." But in surfing a bit, I've come to
the conclusion that bags are called whatever the designer or retailer
thinks is fitting these days. Thus, bags that look very much alike may
be labeled as:
Briefcase, brief bag, attache case, custom case, maximizer, computer
case, or the-little-case-that-could. (I'm kidding about that last name.
I made it up, but, hey -- ya never know.)
The bags may be made of leather, fake leather, vinyl, nylon, aluminum,
or ???. They may be slim or fat. They may have a strap or a handle or
both. The sides may be soft or rigid. Tasteful, rich-looking colors are
generally used.
One page I found was rather intresting. In addition to a "folding
brief," you may also buy a police vest, a helmet, or a rocket launcher.
http://tinyurl.com/3vwb4
And the Kenneth Cole attache case here...
http://tinyurl.com/6nfpc
reminded me a bit of the bag you are asking about.
Many of the hard-sided cases are called briefcases -- as always. The
more contemporary bags seem to have softer contours and are more
flexible, use-wise. You'd probably be safe in calling the case you asked
about either a briefcase _or_ an attache. Or: Perhaps you can name it
the "Classic Business Case for Executives" or something like that. It's
a beauty.
Maria Conlon
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Donna Richoux
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2005 8:05 am
Post subject: Re: Other kinds of bags [was: Plastic bags] |
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Skitt <skitt99@comcast.net> wrote:
| Quote: | Jitze Couperus wrote:
[snip discussion relating to] |
| Quote: | http://pages.sbcglobal.net/couperusj/Bags/
I noted something that might be of interest to those discerning differences
word-wise. The bottom two items have the word "duffle" attached to them.
Yes, there is something like a "duffle coat", but what is depicted are a
couple of "duffel bags".
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You can find discussion in the archives discussion on this. The
spellings appear interchangeable today, although the cloth & coat was
originally Duffel, a placename. The word for the bag appears to be
unrelated to the word for the coat and cloth, historically, although
dictionary entries combine them.
I really like the picture of the old "kit bag" style. Did you find these
pictures anywhere in particular, Jitze, or did you just swipe them from
here and there?
--
Best -- Donna Richoux |
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Jitze Couperus
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2005 8:15 am
Post subject: Re: Other kinds of bags [was: Plastic bags] |
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On Tue, 4 Jan 2005 02:05:47 +0100, trio@euronet.nl (Donna Richoux)
wrote:
| Quote: |
I really like the picture of the old "kit bag" style. Did you find these
pictures anywhere in particular, Jitze, or did you just swipe them from
here and there?
|
Google images is where I got 'em. This whole excercise was
precipitated because I was asked to review the memoirs of
a former colleague, prior to Mr Simon and Mr Schuster
doing their thing - title unknown as yet and I wouldn't be
allowed to tell you anyway.
I found I had a number of comments (language-wise) and could
provide extra details here and there when I was privy to the action
from a slightly different angle as it were.
All in all a most interesting excercise - can't wait till it hits
the presses (currently scheduled to be in time for the next
Thanksgiving-Christmas season) as it promises to embarass
the heck out of some former bosses. Lovely ! They had it coming,
couldn't happen to nicer collection of H.M. Govt. Officials.
Jitze
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M. J. Powell
Guest
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| Posted: Tue Jan 04, 2005 7:50 pm
Post subject: Re: Other kinds of bags [was: Plastic bags] |
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In message <41d9cf30.611836859@news.znet.com>, Jitze Couperus
<couperus-eschew-this@znet.com> writes
| Quote: | On Mon, 03 Jan 2005 21:57:01 GMT, Tony Cooper
tony_cooper213@earthlink.net> wrote:
I assume it's what we now call a "pencil box". It would contain
pencils, pens, nibs, and such. The round hole looks like it might be
a place to stand a small ink bottle so it wouldn't slide around.
Correct - a pencil box. But the round hole was not to a place
to put the ink bottle - we used porcelain ink wells located in
a hole a the right front corner of the desk - which was very
discriminatory for left handers and resulted in lots of blodges
(a technical term) which had to be taken care of with blotting
paper.
|
Yes, I was/am a left-hander. What was the stuff that bubbled and
produced acetylene when you added water? We used to put a small amount
in someone's inkwell.
Another nice trick was to light a small piece of film, blow it out and
put it in someone's desk where it smouldered and produced copious
amounts of smoke.
Happy days, although I didn't know it then.
Mike
| Quote: |
The round hole was to hold a rubber. (No - not *that* kind
thing yu fule. What Yanks would call an eraser.)
It also looks very similar to a "sick call set". That's usually a
wooden crucifix with a top that slides off. The hollow interior would
contain a vial of holy water or annointing oil and a candle. I doubt
if English schoolboys carried them, though.
Never heard/seen one of those - I think you probably have to have been
raised as a member of the correct flock to lnow about those.
Jitze
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--
M.J.Powell |
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Jitze Couperus
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 1:30 am
Post subject: Re: Other kinds of bags [was: Plastic bags] |
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On Tue, 4 Jan 2005 12:50:31 +0000, "M. J. Powell"
<mike@DeLeTe.pickmere.demon.co.uk> wrote:
| Quote: |
Yes, I was/am a left-hander. What was the stuff that bubbled and
produced acetylene when you added water? We used to put a small amount
in someone's inkwell.
|
Carbide - and it produced acetylene gas which could be lit
providing a bright flame. Porcelain ink wells were very good
for that purpose. It seems that some schoolboy pranks
were universal...
Jitze |
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Mike Lyle
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 2:54 am
Post subject: Re: Other kinds of bags [was: Plastic bags] |
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Jitze Couperus wrote:
| Quote: | On Tue, 4 Jan 2005 12:50:31 +0000, "M. J. Powell"
mike@DeLeTe.pickmere.demon.co.uk> wrote:
Yes, I was/am a left-hander. What was the stuff that bubbled and
produced acetylene when you added water? We used to put a small
amount in someone's inkwell.
Carbide - and it produced acetylene gas which could be lit
providing a bright flame. Porcelain ink wells were very good
for that purpose. It seems that some schoolboy pranks
were universal...
Jitze
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And if you pierced a tin of carbide and chucked in the river, it
would in due course explode, stunning all nearby fish. One of my
life's regrets is that I never got to try it out.
Mike. |
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Ray Heindl
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 4:39 am
Post subject: Re: Other kinds of bags [was: Plastic bags] |
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"Maria Conlon" <mariaconlon001@hotmail.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Many of the hard-sided cases are called briefcases -- as always.
The more contemporary bags seem to have softer contours and are
more flexible, use-wise. You'd probably be safe in calling the
case you asked about either a briefcase _or_ an attache. Or:
Perhaps you can name it the "Classic Business Case for Executives"
or something like that. It's a beauty.
|
I wouldn't apply "attache case" to the bag in question. In my
experience an attache is rigid and rectangular in shape. I'm not the
only one, according to the RHUD:
"attaché case, a flat, usually rigid, rectangular briefcase for
carrying business papers, documents, or the like. Also called _dispatch
case_."
I'd never heard of "dispatch case" before. It has a BrE ring about it,
possibly from association with the "dispatch boxes" (if that's the
right term) seen in shows about the British government.
--
Ray Heindl
(remove the Xs to reply to: xvortren-news@yaxhoo.com) |
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Mike Barnes
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Jan 05, 2005 4:48 am
Post subject: Re: Other kinds of bags [was: Plastic bags] |
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In alt.usage.english, Mike Lyle wrote:
| Quote: | Jitze Couperus wrote:
On Tue, 4 Jan 2005 12:50:31 +0000, "M. J. Powell"
mike@DeLeTe.pickmere.demon.co.uk> wrote:
Yes, I was/am a left-hander. What was the stuff that bubbled and
produced acetylene when you added water? We used to put a small
amount in someone's inkwell.
Carbide - and it produced acetylene gas which could be lit
providing a bright flame. Porcelain ink wells were very good
for that purpose. It seems that some schoolboy pranks
were universal...
Jitze
And if you pierced a tin of carbide and chucked in the river, it
would in due course explode, stunning all nearby fish. One of my
life's regrets is that I never got to try it out.
|
Rumour has it that Liverpool dockers used to wrap bits of carbide in
bread and feed them to the gulls, for the pleasure of seeing said birds
burst in mid-air. This was the 1960s, revenge for the sandwiches lost to
the scavenging bastards. I'm not sure whether I believe it or not.
--
Mike Barnes
Cheshire, England |
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Ray Heindl
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 3:49 am
Post subject: Re: Other kinds of bags [was: Plastic bags] |
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Mike Barnes <january2005@mikebarnes.fsnet.co.uk> wrote:
| Quote: | Rumour has it that Liverpool dockers used to wrap bits of carbide
in bread and feed them to the gulls, for the pleasure of seeing
said birds burst in mid-air. This was the 1960s, revenge for the
sandwiches lost to the scavenging bastards. I'm not sure whether I
believe it or not.
|
I would think it would just make them belch, or maybe poison them --
calcium carbide produces lime, which probably isn't a good thing to
eat. Here's somebody who claims to have seen it done:
<http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Exploding_20Pigeons> (search for
"carbide".)
It sounds a lot like the urban legend about some famous person dying of
a ruptured stomach after eating Pop-rocks candy and drinking Coke.
<http://www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/poprocks.htm>
--
Ray Heindl
(remove the Xs to reply to: xvortren-news@yaxhoo.com) |
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Skitt
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Jan 06, 2005 8:13 am
Post subject: Re: Other kinds of bags [was: Plastic bags] |
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M. J. Powell wrote:
[...]
| Quote: | Another nice trick was to light a small piece of film, blow it out and
put it in someone's desk where it smouldered and produced copious
amounts of smoke.
|
Forget the small piece -- get one about three feet long, wind it up tight,
wrap it in paper so it does not unravel, light one end, and blow it out as
soon as the film catches fire. *Now* you have some smoke!
I used to do that in our apartment house stairwell, back in the Old country.
--
Skitt (in Hayward, California)
www.geocities.com/opus731/ |
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John Holmes
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Jan 07, 2005 6:15 pm
Post subject: Re: Other kinds of bags [was: Plastic bags] |
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"Jitze Couperus" <couperus-eschew-this@znet.com> wrote in message
news:41d9bc32.606974906@news.znet.com...
| Quote: | On 3 Jan 2005 20:48:57 GMT, Ray Heindl <me@privacy.net> wrote:
I'd have called it simply a briefcase, too, but I see that a US
briefcase-selling site calls this specific type a brief bag. I've
never heard it called that here (UK).
I've never heard that term in the US either. The bag in question I
would call a brief case, but the term is also used to refer to
attache
cases ("Brief Case, rigid" in the page cited), so I would need to
explain the difference if it mattered. Maybe "lawyer's brief case",
to
distinguish it from an attache case -- "barrister's brief case"
Rightpondially, I suppose.
Wow - In setting up that web page I never even thought of the
term "attache case" even though it is of course completely
familiar to me.
I associate "attache case" very specifically with the third picture
depicted on the page (a small suitcase) whereas I would never
use it to describe the one I was looking for (1st image)
So far, the term "briefcase" seems to be the best we can come
up with, but it still niggles me that somewhere in the recesses
of my cranium lurks a more specific term.
|
I found this page while googling:
http://www.askandyaboutclothes.com/Teasers/Teasers/BriefcasesHistoryOf.h
tm
One that it mentions is "the Rosebery, an oval-top bag", a successor to
the Gladstone. I can't find a picture of a Rosebery anywhere; anyone
know what they looked like?
--
Regards
John |
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maryirving
Joined: 19 Jun 2006
Posts: 1
Location: R.I.
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| Posted: Mon Jun 19, 2006 12:29 am
Post subject: They were called......... |
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Hi,
Salesmen and businessmen had briefcases, students had "school bags." They were leather and usually had a suitcase type closing. Sometimes we had our initials on them.
Is that what you were refering to......????
_________________
Maryirving |
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