Handbag

A handbag, also purse or pouch in North American English, is a handled medium-to-large bag that is often fashionably designed, often used by women, to hold personal items. "Purse" or "handbag" or "pouch": The term "purse" originally referred to a small bag for holding coins. In British English, it is still used to refer to a small coin bag. A "handbag" is a larger accessory that holds objects beyond currency, such as personal items. American English typically uses the terms purse and handbag interchangeably. The term handbag began appearing in the early 1900s. Initially, it was most often used to refer to men's hand-luggage. Women's bags grew larger and more complex during this period, and the term was attached to the accessory. Handbags are valued for their stylishness as visual accessories as well as for their function. The verb "to handbag" derives from UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher's habit of pulling scraps of paper out of her handbag in meetings and reading aloud the comments she had written on them. The verb's more general meaning of "treating ruthlessly" came to symbolise Thatcher's whole style of government. Julian Critchley, one of her biggest Tory backbench critics, once said, "Margaret Thatcher and her handbag is the same as Winston Churchill and his cigar."