What do you call where the students carry their books?'

cftranslate · Post by **cftranslate** » Sat Oct 02, 2004 1:10 pm

My understanding is that in BrE they favor school bag but in the US they call that backpack because old school bags look more like the backpacks you take on a fild trip, for example.

Stephen Jones · Post by **Stephen Jones** » Sat Oct 02, 2004 5:13 pm

When I was a kid we used a satchel.

It was having to hunt and skin the mammoth to make it that was the real hassle!

Lorikeet · Post by **Lorikeet** » Sat Oct 02, 2004 6:39 pm

Mammoth skin worked great Stephen

My kid used a backpack to carry books to school because it IS a backpack. That is, the best kind you can buy is the kind that people use while hiking (without the frames). They tend to last longer with the big pile of books students carry than the cheapy ones do.

Harzer · Post by **Harzer** » Sat Oct 02, 2004 11:43 pm

Apart from schoolbag, school-case, satchel and backpack, I have a mental image of kids carrying books tied together with a strap made of mammoth leather. Where might this have been typical - France? USA?

Harzer

woodcutter · Post by **woodcutter** » Sun Oct 03, 2004 12:52 am

Well, I believe that since the cenzoic era began in the UK, a school bag is a bag wot you take to school, and a backpack is a bag wot you put on your back. They might be the same, and they might not.