What’s the carried weight of your portmanteau?

Silverobama

Key Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2010
Member Type
Student or Learner
Native Language
Chinese
Home Country
China
Current Location
China
My cousin is going to Japan for a few days. He bought a portmanteau today. A case used to put clothes and some daily necessities with a stick he can use to lead instead of holding it on his arms. One more function is that this case is electrified because people can sit on it on the smooth road then it will run itself. One only needs to hold the stick to keep balance. I wanted to know how much weight can the case carry because usually a man is more than 100 pounds and my cousin says “net weight: 200 pounds”.

Is my question natural?

What’s the carried weight of your portmanteau?


IMG_8945.jpeg
 
I'm not sure if loading capacity sounds a bit technical.
 
I'd ask something like "What's the max(imum) load?" or 'How much can it carry/hold?'
 
That's a suitcase. I have never heard of anyone using "portmanteau" in the sense of a type of suitcase. The word is usually used in its figurative sense describing a new word coined from two other words. Like "motel" comes from "motor hotel."
 
Further to @SoothingDave's post I think portmanteau to describe a kind of luggage is very old fashioned. It was common in Victorian Britain but not today.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My cousin is going to Japan for a few days. He bought a portmanteau today. It's a case used to put for clothes and some daily necessities with and has a stick he can use to lead pull it instead of holding carrying it on his arms in his hand. One more function is that this case It is electrified electric/motorised - because people you/one can sit on it on the smooth a level road then and it will run itself using its own power. One only needs to hold the stick handle to keep balance. I wanted to know how much weight can the case can carry because a person usually a man is weighs more than 100 pounds. and My cousin says “net weight: 200 pounds”.

Is my question natural?

What’s the carried weight of your portmanteau?


View attachment 5921
Note my corrections above. I've never seen a case like that. I'd probably call it a "motorised case on wheels". Like the others, I'd say "How much weight will it hold when sitting on it?" If I were to ask "How much weight will it hold?", the listener would probably think I was talking about the weight of the clothes etc inside it.
 

Ask a Teacher

If you have a question about the English language and would like to ask one of our many English teachers and language experts, please click the button below to let us know:

(Requires Registration)
Back
Top