No strings attached!

Posted by Henry on July 18, 2004

In Reply to: References required posted by Henry on July 17, 2004

: : : : : : : : : : I used this phrase the other day (in reference to my husband taking my money away) and I wondered if it was in reference to oldtime pickpockets who used to physically cut a person's purse strings - thereby taking their money?

: : : : : : : : : : Whaddayathink?

: : : : : : : : : Cutting the purse strings means to stop giving financial support to someone or thing.

: : : : : : : : : Another similar expression is "cutting the apron strings" which means, similarly, to end some type of support, either emotional or financial.

: : : : : : : : : If you look at the "strings" concept as a sort of lifeline then the meaning may be clearer.
: : : : : : : : : Maybe someone else can provide more detail.

: : : : : : : : Before modern times, when clothing did not have pockets as part of the design, a pocket was usually a cloth bag or leather pouch - often tied to the belt at the waist. if it contained money then it was known as a purse. one form of highway robbery was to be a 'cut-purse' and carry a sharp short-bladed knife (like a pruning hook) which could be used to cut purse strings and a skilled person could do this without alerting the victim - usually by distraction - either themselves or by an accomplice. the purse strings were simply the cords with which a purse was tied to the belt. it became an obvious metaphor 'to cut the purse strings' meaning to deprive of finance.

: : : : : : : : apron strings - I think it was a custom to use the strings of an apron as 'reins' for small children. so to cut them was a sign of going from a dependent to more independent child.

: : : : : : : I'm not familiar with the phrase "cut the purse strings"! Are you sure that it's an established saying? The person who holds the purse strings controls expenditure. He can tighten the purse strings or loosen them, as these newspaper headings show.
: : : : : : : Let students hold the purse strings Telegraph Education (Filed: 20/09/2002)
: : : : : : : Republican Congress Tightens Purse Strings
: : : : : : : By Dan Morgan Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, June 12, 2004
: : : : : : : Time to loosen the purse strings? Financial Times, 21 January 2004
: : : : : : : As members have said above, to end reliance or dependence is to cut the apron strings.

: : : : : : Because I have not personally heard of a phrase has absolutely no bearing at all as to how established the phrase is.

: : : : : : English is spoken in so many countries and has evolved and is evolving as we speak into so many differing slices, colors and styles.

: : : : : : For instance, a while back someone posted something about "dab hand".
: : : : : : Dab hand? Never heard of it. Probably some nut case who posted that who heard it wrong or wrote it down phonetically.
: : : : : : It turns out that "dab hand" is a very popular phrase in the UK and is used to describe a person who is highly skilled at a given task.

: : : : : : That is what makes this hang out spot so sweet in that we all can see and appreciate all these rainbows of words.

: : : : : That's a good point, Bruce, and I wonder if there's any indication where and when this usage was first recorded. I think you'll agree that to control the purse strings, and either tighten or loosen them, is the long-established phrase. The relatively small number of examples on the internet suggests that this is perhaps a minority or a recent usage, although it may well be one that will grow with time.

: : : : : However, this usage seems to have grown from a misunderstanding of the purpose served by purse strings. A purse made of leather or fabric was secured at the neck by a draw string, perhaps cord or leather. This was the purse string. When this is tightened, no money can legitimately be taken out. If it is loosened, money can then be removed. If it is cut, then all the money will be released. But it appears that 'cut the purse strings' is intended to give the opposite meaning, to show that access to money is being withdrawn.

: : : : : The person possessing the purse controls expenditure. If the phrase meant to steal the purse, then "to cut the purse strings" would remove the limit on spending. Once again, this is the opposite of the meaning intended.

: : : : : A more likely origin seems to lie in a conflation of the two phrases "control the purse strings" and "cut the apron strings" to give a phrase intended to mean "cut expenditure". I'll be interested to learn of any reference to another origin.

: : : : I agree 100% that there is a misunderstanding somewhere with this phrase.

: : : : Some low life cutting your purse strings and running off with your stuff is one thing.

: : : : However, YOUR cutting the purse strings to one of your kids is another thing and has nothing to do at all with the concept of the THIEF cutting the strings.

: : : : Two totally different ideas so maybe someone can venture forth here and ex ducat us.

: : : OK, me again. I am in Australia and the phrase is well-known and used to mean cutting off financial support (not emotional support also as in cutting apron strings). In a mini-poll I conducted 9 people came up with the same derivation that I did - from the oldtime cutpurses.

: : : And there is a poem in Ben Jonson's play Bartholomew Fair , which decries the life of a cutpurse - A Caveat for Cutpurses.

: : : I have a feeling this phrase has been around for a long time.

: : I don't deny the usage or that cutpurses existed. It's the origin of the usage that I'm interested in. If we accept that a cutpurse was a thief who stole purses by cutting purse strings, then 'cutting the purse strings' would simply mean theft. I can't believe that Australians equate theft, a dishonest act, with cutting off economic support, which may be a justified measure. They may like the vivid image it conjures up for them, but that alone is hardly enough to explain why the phrase has come to mean something so far removed from its original sense. It's more than a simple extension of meaning and I suspect that there's another influence at work, even one they may not have recognized. Perhaps they imagine that purse strings fulfil the same role as supply lines, and that cutting them will cause suffering in both cases.

: The phrase doesn't seem to have been included in a dictionary yet; it isn't in my edition of the Concise Oxford Dictionary. Here's an entry for purse strings from the internet. While it's interesting that a phrase can survive from the fifteenth century, there's no mention of 'cut the purse strings'.

: "Financial resources or control of them, as in His mother doesn't want to let go of the purse strings because he may make some foolish investments. This expression is often extended to hold or tighten or loosen the purse strings, as in As long as Dad holds the purse strings, we have to consider his wishes, or The company is tightening the purse strings and will not be hiring many new people this year. The purse strings in this idiom are the means of opening and closing a drawstring purse. [Early 1400s]
: Source: The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company."

Here's an interesting account of making an Elizabethan leather purse. I can't say that it is completely authentic, but the purse is attached to the belt by a loop rather than by the purse strings. www.havenonline.com/ moas/a_s_2001/402.htm ELIZABETHAN LEATHER PURSE
The middle class folk went to market more frequently than their betters, and they are often depicted in woodcuts and paintings wearing purses that hang quite a ways from their belts.
In her book on embroiderers Kay Staniland features four bags which all have tassels hanging from their bottom edge, and two of them have tasseled drawstrings. The long loop is for attaching the purse to my belt. It and the drawstrings are made with simple three strand braids.