1.21.2006

Celebrations: The Pocket-in-a-pocket employed - a guest post.

Well, due to such a fine turn-out on the previous post, I thought it befitting to ask a one Kate Zuccarello to further her thoughts on the pocket-in-a-pocket piece, et al following that ensued. Please welcome to the platform... Kate. She'll be here all week.


“There’s a Pocket in my Pocket” or rather “A People’s History of the Pocket in a Pocket” By Kate Zuccarello

[a guest post for a swiftly tilting planet of people]

The Pocket in a Pocket has become quite the trend these days. Some might surmise that this was another of those fabulously American phenomenon from the same people who brought us the concept of “supersizing”, the Flowbee vacuum powered home barbershop, and “inspected by number 17” tags [these aforementioned ideas all falling into my own category of “what is the need for that?”] It has been rumored as well that the Pocket in a Pocket is the handiwork of Steve Jobs as just another place you can store your gumstick size Ipod Shuffle. This is also not the case. Might I suggest that said Pocket in a Pocket might have a longer tale to relate; a tale that spans the ages and speaks of history, mystery, and wonder? For all practical purposes, we will call this the tale of the Pocket in a Pocket, an evolving and practical societal trend.

The first Pocket in a Pocket dates back to the ages of Yesteryear and Yore, actually with its first recorded sighting in the time of Christ and the Caesar’s. Though there were no Levis to be spotted then, there were plenty of togas and tunics to have the occasional Pocket in a Pocket innovation. Yes, Julius Caesar, paranoid that he had no hair, started the lovely “wreath of greenery” headband trend to cover up his balding problem. But while he was at it, he had to invent a place to store the extra ivy leaves should his wreath grow sparse when a wind might pick up throughout the day. Thus, you need a hidden pocket, and we see the birth of the Pocket in a Pocket. Jesus picked up on this trend storing the occasional parable cliff notes, should he forget the clever tale he was relaying, and even that doubting Thomas [still a doubter in the early years] kept a few hidden fish and loaves in his [increasingly smelly I might add] Pocket in a Pocket, should the promised feast not deliver.

As we walk toward the middle ages, we are greeted by Martin Luther, who used his Pocket in a Pocket to store the occasional, nails, tacks, and post-it notes, because he never really knew when he would have a thesis that he might have to post on the doors of many. Napoleon felt that his Pocket in a Pocket made him look taller. All of Charles V’s wives kept a list of his other wives in their Pocket in a Pocket so holiday gatherings wouldn’t be awkward when you forgot the other wives names. Science and the Arts didn’t skirt the Pocket in a Pocket either. Before “David” lost his clothes, you can bet they contained the Pocket in a Pocket. And Jonas Salk – Penicillin wasn’t discovered in a Petri dish, but instead in the mold growing inside of Salk’s Pocket in a Pocket on his lab coat. The Wright Brothers kept the occasional wingnut and bolt stored in their Pockets in a Pcoket, and unfortunately Amelia Earheart’s fifth pocket was on her other set of flight pants, because in it she usually kept her compass.

Which brings us up to modern times. The Pocket in a Pocket has stored the name of the whereabouts of Jimmy Hoffa, the guitar pick of Elvis Presley, Nixon’s Watergate Hotel key, the missing bullets from the Kennedy assassination, Monica Lewinsky’s dry cleaning bill, the lipstick of Tammy Faye, and the Sweet n Low of Cher. It truly has a plethora of handy uses. Think on such things the next time you need to store your Celebrations candy. You are in a long line of users…

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

You know what? I found just the place to put this "Pocket in a Pocket" concept- in that crappy little pocket where my gorilla fingers will never get it out and it'll go through the wash a bunch of times, cause I forgot it was there.

Anonymous said...

Kate, I feel compelled to confess something to you. I did some further research and discovered that the nuerons connecting my brain full of knowledge got a little cross-wired. To put it bluntly, I was wrong. Jonas Salk is to polio vaccine as Sir Alexander Flemming is to Penicillin. Sorry to have marred such an otherwise informative guest blog.

Anonymous said...

Kate, I wonder...why is there only 1 "pocket in a pocket" in a pair of jeans?? And why is it always on the right side?? I guess it sucks for whoever is left handed...its hard enough trying to get something out of the "pocket in a pocket" with my right hand!

Anonymous said...

bravo, bravo

kate debaene said...

aaron - clearly i need to get you a "people's history of the tweezers" for that is what people with gorilla like hands, such as yourself, use to retrieve lost documents. also, this is what makes it a great secret document holder - because you can't get at it very easily.

marisa - thanks for doing the research. i both should have known that and checked my sources. did high school english and misquoting the pope teach me nothing. you are pardoned.

krista - good thoughts on the lefty thing. we are in a right handed world. just check out the number of deaths by lefties using right scissors in a year. shocking.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the forgiveness. But couldn't I get a "Te absolvo" and then a list of penetence? How many Ave Marias and Paternosters?

Me llamo Dave said...

i use to keep things in my bungholio until i discovered my pocket in a pocket. and you can find out even more crazier things about what i use to keep up in me at davehodge78.blogspot.com i truly am full of useful stuff.

Anonymous said...

hi jenn swift. its trisha. miller. dave showed me your site and it brings a smile to my day.


btw - have you heard the police's "every little thing she does is magic" set to the commercial for the movie 'nanny mcphee'? i hope you have and thought it was as equally inappropriate as i did.

Jenn Swift said...

TRISHA!!! I just saw that movie Friday night and LOVED it. Probably b/c it used a fine Police song so effectively. Good call.

The Chinlund Family said...

When I don't want to have an odd lump moving around the front of my thigh, I put my chapstick in my pocket in a pocket. I have also been known to put my rings in there when taking them off to put on lotion. My conclusion? A girl must've invented pocket in a pocket.