#140 Pockets

Neil Pasricha

Here’s one for you.

Did you know that pockets and purses are distant cousins? Well, sure enough, grandma, it’s true!

See, there were once no pockets. Before the 1500s everyone presumably stuffed cell phones into socks and stored minivan keyless remotes under top hats. But eventually folks starting carrying around little bags to hold their things and the family tree eventually split into pants pockets and big purses.

These days pockets are great for a few big reasons:

1. Man Purse Backups. Guys, you know the pain of lugging around your wallet, keys, and phone without a handy side satchel holding everything. Sure, sometimes you can count on a Purse Lady to hook you up, but more often than not it’s down to the pockets.

2. Instant hand warmers. Spending your money on gloves and mitts is fine, but even better is the cheapo method of deep-digging them into your jeans pockets for some hot, hot thigh loving.

3. Flexible like a gymnast. Pockets of air in rooms that are quickly filling with gushing water are life-saving and make for exciting movie scenes. And pockets of air bubbles can provide hours of amusement. Plus, let’s not forget that pizza pockets and pita pockets can be tasty and delicious.*

Oh sure, sure, I’m the same as you, mindlessly stuffing my hands in my pockets all day without really imagining the fairly recent world where they didn’t even exist. Nowadays we bell our bottoms, fade our jeans, and pre-wrinkle our T-shirts, but there was a day when we just wrapped ourselves in what we had and kept on trucking. Perhaps back then nobody could have predicted the long line of Clothing Technology that evolved over time to include zippers, Velcro, and Genera Hypercolor T-Shirts.

AWESOME!

(*Unless filled with alfalfa.)

Photos from: here, here, and here

36 thoughts to “#140 Pockets”

  1. I can dig it… Or dig into it if we’re talking about pockets ;D HAW HAW HAW.

    Anyway, putting hands into pockets for warmth isn’t cheapo!!! What are you talking about? My pants are all $50 + … that’s kind of expensive for pants.

    1. WORD. It’s not the size of the purse, it’s the pockets! Actually, anything is more awesome when it has compartments.

      Also, I want a purse filled with money and chocolate.

  4. You know what I hate? Fake pockets.

    Why go through all the effort of sewing a little flap where the pocket should be?! Just make it into a pocket!

    2. Even worse than fake pockets? Pockets that are too small to use! What’s the point of having a pocket in my pants that’s only an inch deep?

  7. Deep pockets in MC Hammer pants were the best!
    Ah right, they’re back…but are they still called MC Hammer?
    :)

      1. Thank you!
        Today, I heard Bollywood too! I do LOVE that dance as well as Hammer-time so it will be a toss up now=D

  9. I’ve noticed there is a big difference between “boy pockets” and “girl pockets”, particularly in things like jeans.. If I’m wearing my comfy (read: slouchy) weekend jeans, I can fit 2 cell phones, a big jangling set of keys, loose change totalling over $4.37, a fat wallet, some crumpled up receipts, maybe an iPod, and a few other assorted odds and ends.. (this leads to the weird phenomenon where I sometimes take my jeans off with everything still in the pockets, and my wife tries to pick up my pants, but they weigh about 15 pounds at this point).

    On the other hand, my wife’s jeans have teeny-tiny pockets, and they’re barely useable. Sometimes she’ll try to carry our grocery list in her pocket or something, and it doesn’t fit (and it’s the size of a post-it note). It’s pretty weird.

    1. It’s ridiculous! That’s why I always use my back pockets to hold stuff. When I was in college I didn’t carry a purse. I had one of those keychain wallet things, and it held my driver’s license, student ID, meal card, debit card, and cash. It slipped right into my back pocket and my keys dangled over the top. Perfect!

      Nowadays I do carry a purse a lot of the time, but I still use my back pockets. I love that my iPhone fits so well in there because it’s wide and flat. It’s in my pocket right now!

      Oh, and I love wintertime, because I can put things in the pocket of my coat and I don’t have to carry a purse!

    2. What is up with that anyway?
      Maybe if women had bigger pockets in their pants, we wouldn’t need to carry a purse! >:O

      1. Maybe if we stopped carrying purses, they would make bigger pockets in our pants!

        Actually, I think it’s just because big pockets are bulky and not as pretty. But I would like to be given the choice!

  11. Carpenter pants and my Kodiac vest which even has a key/wallet clip in a side pocket and many interior pockets as well…sort of like #609…BONUS:)

  12. I love that you wrote this! Pockets are SO awesome. Totally the most underrated feature of jackets and jeans. I’m always jealous of how huge guys’ pockets are. They can hold so much! We need purses.

  15. The day you wrote this, clothing was the topic around our house. How easy it was to select “back when” and the comforts so naturelle!
    Then you wrote about the evolution, zippers, velcro and… don’t you think Genera Hypercolour pockets would be INTERESTING!

  17. Cell phone in the left, ipod in the right, money clip in the back right. <3 pockets
    especially those cool secret pockets

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