cmt

Generally, I hang the strap over my knee. However, if I'm on a bench seat and no one can walk behind me, I put it on the bench next to me.

ThinGorjus

This post is just too funny! I had this conversation with a co-worker two days ago. She never carries a purse. I asked here where she kept her money, driver's license, credit cards. She answered, "My bra."

Patrick

My mind whirls with comments, ThinGorjus, but I'm keeping them all to myself. Just think "loose change", "diaphragm", and "cough drops" for starters.

SuzieC

Deep cleavage

annetti

I know I am far too casual about where I put my handbag. Sometimes, I sling it over my chair; I know better, but to have it on my lap throughout a meal is uncomfortable. Ditto for keeping my leg on it or wrapping the strap around my foot. Thanks to this post, I will be more careful. A friend at work told me that she was in a banquet room for a wedding, but when three or four of the women went to the buffet table, leaving their purses behind at the table,they learned when they returned that several of them were minus their handbags. I think how often I've done the same thing thinking that I was at a private function and that there was no problem about leaving my handbag on my seat or on the table.

suze

i'm still laughing at the very first reply from ira. little did i know GOOD restaurants provide a little stool for your purse... guess i don't get out enough!!

cigalechanta

They don't suze. It would be easier to snatch yopur bag from that stool than it would be on your lap or with your feet where you have the strap over an ankle.

cigalechanta

But seriously all, you are not visiting another planet. We don't take the same precautions or ask these questions about visiting New York, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Detroit. You take the exact same care!

cigalechanta

Never at the outside edge of the table. We had a guy that would pass through TGIF here in boston, and would race away with those left on that outer edge.

nytraveler

Cigalchanta -

Have I missed your point? I - and everyone - should take exactly these precautions everywhere - including the local mall. Anyone not doing this in NYC is taking a serious chance of having their pure stolen.

And this is nothing new - I remember my mother teaching me this when I was first old enough to carry a purse - thirty some years ago.

cigalechanta

NYtraveler, I'm saying everywhere is the same in big cities about precautions
but not going to extremes to buy certain things to think you will be safer. I would hate to be on vacation and feel I must wear certain things to keep my valuables safe. I'm at an age to know if here or there, alertness is your best safety device.

starrsville

suze,
ira is so well known in Europe that they swoop in immediately after his arrival with a stool for his man-bag!

sgobowinski

Keeping things everywhere can be dangerous. I always keep my purse on me. Tucked down my skirt, or if I'm wearing a dress then in my bra.

asps

I have been told that in Buenos Aires there are thieves specialized in crawling between tables to visit purses left on the floor. This is unheard in Europe - at least I never heard it - but makes you think.

nytraveler

Not sure why this ancient post was brought up.

But the rules are the same. Do not put the purse on the back of your chair, on the table or on any silly stool provided. The purse goes on you lap under the napkin, where no one can reach it. If it's too large for that it goes on the floor between your feet - with the strap wrapped around your foot or ankle so you can feel if anyone tries to pull on it.

hetismij2

Just to clarify that a purse for the purpose of this thread is known as a handbag, or just as a bag, in many non-North American countries.

You could not put a North American purse in your bra.

chartley

If an American purse is what Europeans call a handbag, what word do American use for what Europeans call a purse?

suze

Thanks hetismij2, I was wondering about that -lol (purse in bra).

janisj

>>If an American purse is what Europeans call a handbag, what word do American use for what Europeans call a purse?<<

>>I was wondering about that -lol (purse in bra).<<

In the UK at least (I assume also on the continent)

US purse = UK Handbag

UK purse = US wallet or coin purse-type thing

Underhill

I hang my purse/handbag from a clever little device that slides over the table's edge, with a hook beneath. They come in all sorts of designs.