Does size matter?
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When does a bag become a sack?
Blimey, he's back.
Don't bags generally have handles, while sacks usually don't? -
When does a bag become a sack?
The bags in American grocery stores are always brown and without handles, at least movies set in the 50's they are.
Bags you freeze left-overs in are without handles, aren't they?Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
Sacks are made of coarser material, usually, as well. I'd say there's a bit of a grey area.
In related news, I've noticed that Americans often say "hat" in circumstances where we Limeys would almost always say "cap".Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
If you use both words as verbs, they are virtually opposite in meaning.Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
There are also regional differences in the US. In some parts of the country, people will speak of a "sack lunch", which puzzles everyone else.
Plastic bags (one never hears "plastic sacks") took over the supermarket trade about 25 years ago, though in recent times ecological concerns have seen a return to paper and the replacement of any traditional greeting by the checker with "Paper or plastic?".Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
yer typical black bin bag should really be a sack, shouldn't it?
without getting too involveed in thinking about this, i'd say handles (lack of) and material (not plastic) are the defining characteristics.
now: when does a sack become a sac?Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
ursus arctos wrote:
I remember always hearing that asked when I was a kid, then in the 90s most big chains stopped asking altogether and gave you plastic bags as the default, unless you specifically asked for paper, and then the bagger would get all huffy. Now they ask again, though even the big chains now are pushing reusable cloth or heavy-duty recycled plastic bags. On Earth Day in LA, all grocery chains gave out the reusable bags for free instead of charging. We have a lot of them, except we always forget to take them with us when shopping. In California there's been some talk about charging for plastic bags, but that probably won't happen.Plastic bags (one never hears "plastic sacks") took over the supermarket trade about 25 years ago, though in recent times ecological concerns have seen a return to paper and the replacement of any traditional greeting by the checker with "Paper or plastic?".Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
That's because you grew up in California, which is ahead of the curve in such matters.
You didn't call them "sack lunches", did you? I think it is a Midwestern thing (and not even all of the Midwest; perhaps it is linked to calling "soda" "pop").Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
I don't use "sack lunch" myself (I them "lunch bags"), but I've heard it used and it wouldn't be as strange hearing that as hearing "pop" would be.Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
I've also heard them called "bag lunches."Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
If I were discussing a newly discovered lump with a doctor, I'd likely use 'sack' over 'bag'.Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
Inca, did you call that thing hung at the mantelpiece at Christmas a Christmas sock? Just wondering because my brother-in-law from L.A. does.Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
Doesn't everyone call it Christmas Hosiery?Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
Only you hosers.Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
Those are stockings. I think that's the only occasion in which that word still gets used. I suppose that's because in "The Night Before Christmas" the line is "and the stockings were hung by the chimney with care..."Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
I know, I know, but he says it's a California thing.Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
He's pulling your leg.Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
Football socks are called stockings aren't they?
In the same way that football shirts are really jerseys.Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
We didn't use the term 'sack lunch'. I can remember saying simply, "I brought my lunch" or "I brought a sandwich" with no reference to the method of transport. In Boston, we used to say "I'm brown bagging it". This is another one of those things to which I've never given much thought.
To me, a sack is either a brown rectangular paper grocery bag or a burlap thing that they put flour or potatoes in.
A bag, on the other hand, can be many things:
-A handbag, purse, backpack, rucksack, tote bag, etc.
-A shopping bag with handles (made of paper or plastic)
-A paper bag with a glossy surface
-An old woman
-Under-eye sagging skin and dark circles
-Something you put your bowling ball in
-A verb meaning to obtain something, particularly if it was free or very hard to get (Dude, I'm trying to bag tickets for that sold out gig.) Also, to kill an animal while hunting (I bagged a deer.)
The use of 'sack is more limited:
-To be fired
-A paper grocery bag with no handles that will stand on its own
-A burlap bag for flour or potatoes
-The bed, with sexual implications/connotations/inferences
Sack seems to be used more as a verb than a noun, at least to my mind.
Inca - I bought a bunch of those canvas totes at the grocery store, and I too had problems at first remembering to bring them with me. Then I started bringing them, but I would leave them in the car. I am happy to report that I have finally trained myself to bring them downstairs to the car and then bring them into the store.Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
Stockings implies hosiery that runs up high, at least to the knee, so stockings would be appropriate for football socks that also hold up the shinguard.
FF provides an authoritative explanation of bag/sack in US English. I would add that "in the bag" or "half in the bag" is occasionally used to mean "drunk."
We don't use "sacked" to mean fired very much. "Canned" is more common.Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
I would never use "stocking" to refer to anything worn by a man. To me, it's women's lingerie.Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
I forgot about bag in the inebriated context.
I agree with Inca. If a man wears them, they are socks.* If a woman wears them, they are called knee-highs. Only if they extend above the knee are they allowed to be called stockings.
*The only exception to this would be in the case of a drag queen or female impersonator.Comment
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When does a bag become a sack?
It's not fundamentally a gender distinction. It's just that men hardly ever wear anything that goes over the knee. After certain surgeries, patients have to wear tight stockings to ensure good circulation.
The Cincinnati Reds were originally the Cincinnati Red Stockings.
From the Hall of Fame site.
When the 1868 Cincinnati Red Stockings introduced knickers to the baseball uniform, suddenly and somewhat shockingly much of the players’ legs were revealed to the public. Indeed, Cincinnati’s team nickname was the result of the very colorful and very visible stockings worn by the club. As club president Aaron Champion later recalled, “The showing of the manly leg in varied-colored hose … [was] unheard of, and when [team captain] Harry Wright occasionally appeared with the scarlet stockings, young ladies’ faces blushed as red, and many high-toned members of the club denounced the innovation as immoral and indecent.” While some may have objected to the new look, ballplayers quickly embraced the style, and the bold change in baseball pants resulted in an important new element of the uniform: stockings.
Of course, it those days, the stocking went on over the "sanitary socks" because the color in the stockings was poisonous, so if a guy got a spike wound (common), the dye could get in the wound and that was bad. The white sock underneath would mitigate that risk. Their sole purpose was to give the uniform color. That's also why baseball stirrups came to be.Comment
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