[Vocabulary] a purse

[andrewg927]

I can only say that I have only seen a postman deliver mail in a bag on a bicycle on British TV shows. In the US, mailmen drive and they don't deliver mail from a bag.

 

[Tdol]

I have never seen anything similar to this purse. It seems people do not use them here. It looks very practical for coins.

I haven't seen one of those for years. However, I can see the practicality and wonder why they fell out of favour.

 

[GoesStation]

I can only say that I have only seen a postman deliver mail in a bag on a bicycle on British TV shows. In the US, mailmen drive and they don't deliver mail from a bag.

They walk door to door and deliver mail from a bag in many older urban areas, small and large, in the United States.

 

[andrewg927]

They walk door to door and deliver mail from a bag in many older urban areas, small and large, in the United States.

Other than the people who deliver the early newspapers, I haven't seen a mailman deliver from a bag. I will have to pay attention next time.

 

[andrewg927]

While looking at the pictures of men's purses the other day, I came across the slang word "murse". Is it used when you want to make fun of someone or does it have neutral meaning (just making it clear that it is a men's bag)?

One of my hippie friends confirmed that she knew the word. So there you have it. You can use it but maybe in limited circles.

 

[GoesStation]

Any neighborhood that doesn't have residential mailboxes facing the road will have daily walk-up mail delivery.

 

[emsr2d2]

In the UK, a man bag is different from a messenger/courier bag. Click on the words below for relevant images:

Messenger bag
Courier bag
Man bag

 

[Meja]

One of my hippie friends confirmed that she knew the word. So there you have it. You can use it but maybe in limited circles.

I did not know it is a totally uncommon word. I was just curious.

In the UK, a man bag is different from a messenger/courier bag.

I understood that they are not the same from your previous posts and I am sorry if it seemed that I mix these terms. I was just more interested in the form than in the meaning of the words in the follow-up questions. Thank you for the images and for being helpful.

 

[Skrej]

I can only say that I have only seen a postman deliver mail in a bag on a bicycle on British TV shows. In the US, mailmen drive and they don't deliver mail from a bag.

They walk door to door and deliver mail from a bag in many older urban areas, small and large, in the United States.

In my town, we have both, and the same person may do both. I've seen my delivery woman park her truck, then get out and walk, delivering from her bag. She walks up one side of the street for a couple blocks, then back down the other side, returning to her truck. She'll then move her truck up a few blocks.

However, that being said, there is a movement to go to truck delivery only. I kept getting "friendly' reminders to install a curb side box. I even got a 'final notice', about two years ago. I bought one, but never got around to installing it, and since they keep delivering my mail, I haven't had much incentive to do it.

Apparently if you don't have a curbside box, they still have to deliver to your house if you have incoming mail. However, if you don't have incoming mail, they're not obligated to check your box for outgoing mail.

Since I always drop any outgoing mail off at the post office anyway, it's a non-issue for me. Maybe this summer I'll finally get around to installing it, since I already bought the silly thing.

 

[Meja]

Apparently if you don't have a curbside box, they still have to deliver to your house if you have incoming mail. However, if you don't have incoming mail, they're not obligated to check your box for outgoing mail.

Since I always drop any outgoing mail off at the post office anyway, it's a non-issue for me. Maybe this summer I'll finally get around to installing it, since I already bought the silly thing.

I did not know that it is possible to send mail in this way in other countries. (Here you can either go to the post office or put letters in a post box in the street.) If you put your outgoing mail in your letter box, how do you pay postage? Also, does that mean that your postman/postwoman has to unlock your letter box to take your outgoing mail or is it not locked at all?

 

[emsr2d2]

I was just as surprised. Despite the fact that I have known for decades that those mailboxes exist in America, I had no idea they were used for anything other than delivery of incoming mail. I assumed everyone everywhere had to take outgoing mail to a public postbox/letterbox or a post office.

You live and learn!

 

[Meja]

I'd like to check this vocabulary:

-a box near your house: letterbox (BrE), mailbox (AmE);
-a public box in the street: letterbox or postbox (BrE), mailbox (AmE);
-a small opening in a door for delivering letters: letterbox (BrE), letter hole, mail slot (AmE).

Can we write both 'a letter box' and 'a letterbox'?
Thanks.

 

[GoesStation]

I did not know that it is possible to send mail in this way in other countries. (Here you can either go to the post office or put letters in a post box in the street.) If you put your outgoing mail in your letter box, how do you pay postage? Also, does that mean that your postman/postwoman has to unlock your letter box to take your outgoing mail or is it not locked at all?

It isn't locked. You put a stamp on the envelope to pay the postage. In rural areas like where I live, some people leave a little stack of coins to cover the postage and the letter carrier stamps the envelope before depositing it at the post office. This is an unofficial service though.

 

[GoesStation]

Curbside mailboxes have a little red metal flag that you raise to indicate there's outbound mail inside. People improvise ways to leave outbound mail in mailboxes next to their doors. My parents kept a clothespin for this purpose on one of the curved metal arms on their mailbox when I was a boy.

 

[emsr2d2]

I'd like to check this vocabulary:

-a box near your house: letterbox (BrE), mailbox (AmE); We don't generally have these on houses in the UK. We just have a letterbox (slot) in our front doors. However, a building containing several flats might have lots of small letterboxes attached to the outside wall. That's not always the case. I live in a building which is divided into four flats. We have just one letterbox in the front door. All the post for all four flats comes through it, lands on the floor and whichever resident gets to it first sorts through it, takes their own and puts the rest on a small table in the communal hallway.

-a public box in the street: letterbox or postbox (BrE), mailbox (AmE); :tick:

-a small opening in a door for delivering letters: letterbox (BrE), :tick: letter hole, mail slot (AmE). I don't know about the AmE versions for this one.

Can we write both 'a letter box' and 'a letterbox'?
For me, a "letter box" would be a metal box on the wall and a "letterbox" is the slot in a door.

Thanks.

See above.

 

[GoesStation]

The only term this American has heard for the hole in the front door is "mail slot". I've lived in a couple of old houses that had one, but they were purely decorative. Their function had been superseded by a mailbox next to the door.

 

[andrewg927]

It isn't locked. You put a stamp on the envelope to pay the postage. In rural areas like where I live, some people leave a little stack of coins to cover the postage and the letter carrier stamps the envelope before depositing it at the post office. This is an unofficial service though.

I used to live in a neighborhood where I shared with other households a mailbox area that includes a locked outgoing mail box.

 

[Tdol]

The only term this American has heard for the hole in the front door is "mail slot". I've lived in a couple of old houses that had one, but they were purely decorative. Their function had been superseded by a mailbox next to the door.

We do have different postal systems. I see the mailboxes in American movies, and we rarely have them in the UK.