Knapsack? Backpack? Sachel bag?
Hello,
as this is the site to learn Spanish or English I would like to ask you sth about English today. What is the difference between backpack / rucksack / knapsack / school bag / sachel bag...? I got confused when I learned that it all means quite the same... I know some of them can be taken for hiking, some to school etc., and that there are differences in British and American English as well. Can sb help me, please?
You call it 'LA MOCHILA' in Spanish? Or there are some other names for different types too?
5 Answers
backpack = a bag which has shoulder straps and is mostly worn on the back = mochila, yes. If used by young people for general puropses (including school etc) may be brightly coloured, fashionable brand etc.
rucksack = as above, but it I connect this word a little more with hiking and camping, army etc.in which case it will be a more 'serious' piece of equipment, won't have Pokemon logos or the like!
Other people could feel differently about the above 2 words, I don't know about the USA for example.
knapsack - again, I see this as a bag with shoulder straps, however I don't hear the word nowadays, other than in the old song "The Happy Wanderer".
school bag / satchel bag.. When I was young we used to take a satchel for school - it's a medium-sized bag with one long shoulder strap, not two, so it is carried slung over one shoulder. I think nowadays backpacks are more common for schoolkids, but you can still buy fashion satchels.
The meanings change with time and location. 50 years ago in the US, what is properly called a bindle (a sack or cloth tied onto a stick) was frequently called a knapsack. A canvas bag with two cloth handles that closed with a long zipper between the handles was called a rucksack or duffle bag.
In the 60's, backpacks had frames and the small frameless packs were called day packs. Then large frameless packs became popular with hikers and the small packs were most commonly used by students rather than hikers.
I haven't heard knapsack for years. I would call a bag with two straps designed to go over the shoulders to carry it on your back a backpack or rucksack. My kids use them for school but they can be much more heavy duty things with frames, these are used for hiking or camping.
A satchel is a bag with a single strap that goes over the shoulder. Now they are often fashion items and can be made of all sorts of materials. When I was a child a sathel was leather and used for school books.
Like this one. 
As an American I have heard only "backpack" for what people use for school, college, and hiking. "Knapsack" seems like a very outdated word to me, and I'm 46 years old, so it must be a really old term.
Rucksack and satchel are not in my American vocabulary.
A messenger bag (used by both men and women is different---
Mochila de un soldado, de un escolar, y de un excursionista. These are some of the definitions for usage with mochila as the base. I am sure that there are other terms used by indigenous people.
