As a guy, I've sometimes wondered (during those long hours waiting at the mall for the gals to finish their gathering rituals) what is the difference (if any) between a purse, a pocketbook (aka pockabook), and a bag? Bag would seem to indicate bigger, but then there's evening bags.
In regard to Mr. Sowell, the saving grace is that you can ignore facts only so long before divine animadversion crumbles the shibboleths. Unfortunately, many have to suffer in the meantime, and untold beauty and progress are lost.
purse=medium sized container with a strap that carries all your junk
pocketbook=a wallet on a string
bag=what you carry if a purse doesn't carry all the junk you need to carry
evening bag=an expensive pocketbook that pretty much just carries one lipstick and one form of ID.
i am not sure about purse and bag, i only have a purse which is quite sizeable and could hold a small person if need be. evening bags are stupid, to me. if i can get away w/o having a purse with me,at all, i prefer that.
As I had heard it explained one evening....
Men carry bags, women carry purses, but if a man were to empty his bag, and then a woman put her stuff in the bag, the bag becomes a purse. :-)
Evening purse, just big enough for a derringer and a lipstick case.
A+ on your sentence