tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post5651768919535497421..comments2024-03-16T00:21:43.240+00:00Comments on Separated by a Common Language: UK-to-US Word of the Year: bumlynneguisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10171345732985610861noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-84496837316063901552023-04-14T12:35:30.449+01:002023-04-14T12:35:30.449+01:00Glad to read that I am not alone with referring to...Glad to read that I am not alone with referring to it as "bum"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-91378310938146263612022-04-14T18:08:36.443+01:002022-04-14T18:08:36.443+01:00I missed a reference to bumbag (aka fanny pack). P...I missed a reference to bumbag (aka fanny pack). Perfectly innocuous... I'd ask for one in the shops without a blush.Petra1945https://www.blogger.com/profile/06559677258676647710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-55878493995006871892021-09-01T00:04:42.488+01:002021-09-01T00:04:42.488+01:00We were the same growing up. I remember in my youn...We were the same growing up. I remember in my younger years saying to my mom, I fell on my butt and she would correct me and say how did you fall on your bum! And we are American. So hilarious! Now in my late 20s still prefer referring to it as bum and still find it a softer and nicer word<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-28523242671433798372021-09-01T00:02:26.428+01:002021-09-01T00:02:26.428+01:00So true. My words exactly. I was correcting them s...So true. My words exactly. I was correcting them so they would stop saying butt.They now stopped and refer to it as bum <br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-25496133562113995482021-08-30T23:23:23.560+01:002021-08-30T23:23:23.560+01:00Perfectly fine to refer to it as bum. We was refer...Perfectly fine to refer to it as bum. We was referring to it as bottom or behind, then noticed alot of our American friends and other friends referring to it as bum. My 3 year old came home one day and refer to it as his bum, so that is what we all refer to it now. It sounds really cuteAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-32614759249705961462020-08-20T18:46:19.634+01:002020-08-20T18:46:19.634+01:00My wife's carers referred to her bum, as more ...My wife's carers referred to her bum, as more definite than bottom. One of them said her own waistline tattoo was on her back.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13888286459165605667noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-2007958022431061452018-02-21T19:58:50.685+00:002018-02-21T19:58:50.685+00:00Indeed. "Bum" is used in Rhode Island. &...Indeed. "Bum" is used in Rhode Island. "Butt" has always been seen as slightly more vulgar, while "bum" is a word that can be used with babies and grannies.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-89620157500832835462018-02-21T19:57:26.324+00:002018-02-21T19:57:26.324+00:00Indeed. It is a Rhode Island-ism as well. The word...Indeed. It is a Rhode Island-ism as well. The word "butt" was always considered slightly more vulgar, while "bum" was a word that could be used around babies and grannies.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-20671706782142909142017-01-27T15:42:57.730+00:002017-01-27T15:42:57.730+00:00I still recall my feeling of scandalised shock whe...I still recall my feeling of scandalised shock when my RP-speaking English teacher called the 14-year-old me a "silly ass", which I heard as "silly arse". This was in 1958.KeithDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10451059429340892054noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-77153227026596469202015-01-11T16:46:22.856+00:002015-01-11T16:46:22.856+00:00mrdreadley
The OED disagrees. They list no less t...mrdreadley<br /><br />The OED disagrees. They list no less than fourteen different <i>butt </i>nouns and four different <i>butt</i> verbs.<br /><br />The 'cask' sense is their <b>butt n2</b>.<br /><br />The sense of 'buttocks' and 'cigar end' come under their <b>butt n3</b> — along with other 'thick ends'.<br /><br /> <b>butt n1</b> means 'flatfish' as in <i>halibut</i>.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-18979525896558815732015-01-10T13:52:35.039+00:002015-01-10T13:52:35.039+00:00Both words stem from different sources,bum from bo...Both words stem from different sources,bum from bottom as its pronounced and butt is a large barrel used for storing items in.And hence has allusions to size.Drydenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03641848056845517226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-42088629648334766322014-02-05T08:37:38.340+00:002014-02-05T08:37:38.340+00:00I'm American and as kids we always used bum as...I'm American and as kids we always used bum as a slightly "nicer" version of butt. I remember my aunt had a jacket made by B.U.M. Equipment, which we thought was hilarious.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-41771405195210161702014-01-22T22:15:59.533+00:002014-01-22T22:15:59.533+00:00Is it better or worse that the word of the year is...Is it better or worse that the word of the year isn't "arse"? <br /><br />Interesting post, thanks for sharing.Robert Lewishttp://www.unlocklanguage.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-9176182364508956952014-01-11T14:02:57.585+00:002014-01-11T14:02:57.585+00:00David Crosbie,
Yes, you are right. I've tracke...David Crosbie,<br />Yes, you are right. I've tracked down the quotation I had in mind (for the tendency, not that particular word) and find it's from a collection of satire published in 1805, but purporting to date from 1798. A mother tells her daughter to say "she-dogs" and "small-clothes" instead of "bitches" and "breeches". I had thought the quotation was earlier than that.Kate Buntinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17223976536411967222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-53724701542157163492014-01-10T01:03:10.285+00:002014-01-10T01:03:10.285+00:00Growing up in Boston, 'bum' was always the...Growing up in Boston, 'bum' was always the word used to describe one's bottom. When my sister was a toddler and would escape without clothes after her bath (pronounced with a long 'a'), my parents would refer to her as a 'bare-bum brewster' as they chased her down. Family expression, I assume. I started hearing 'butt' used, maybe in the 90s, more on TV and from people from elsewhere in the U.S. So for me, 'bum' was never a briticism, just maybe a Massachusetts or even eastern Mass, southern NH, RI(?)-ism, if I thought about it. To this day, I don't really say 'butt' to speak of.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-79301783001065548022014-01-04T16:13:03.751+00:002014-01-04T16:13:03.751+00:00Dru, ass and donkey are synonyms in the US. Ass m...Dru, ass and donkey are synonyms in the US. Ass may be less commonly used than donkey, but it doesn't need defining as an animal name.PWnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-83427351952238813932014-01-03T18:21:44.996+00:002014-01-03T18:21:44.996+00:00As an afterthought to my comment above regarding E...As an afterthought to my comment above regarding Ed Norton, it would probably help non-American readers and younger readers for me to clarify that I mean the character that actor Art Carney played on the old U.S. 1950s TV show, <i>The Honeymooners.</i> Ed worked in the New York City sewers and his job provided endless humor for the show.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-30692952255353490462014-01-03T03:15:54.542+00:002014-01-03T03:15:54.542+00:00Lynne, I have to tell you what a great laugh I got...Lynne, I have to tell you what a great laugh I got from the fatberg links you provided. Visions of Ed Norton in a diving suit with an underwater blow torch, trying to split the thing into manageable pieces, completed the picture. And to know that they are valuable biofuel for some people: goodness, wouldn't you like to live next door to the guy who's rendering those down in his garage! : )Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-84881180661378938722014-01-02T12:57:33.716+00:002014-01-02T12:57:33.716+00:00Katie Bunting
The earliest quote for donkey in th...Katie Bunting<br /><br />The earliest quote for <i>donkey</i> in the OED is from 1785, when a dictionary explained to polite speakers that it was a slang name for a male ass. The OED speculates that it may have been created to rhyme with <i>monkey</i>.<br /><br />So your explanation would seem plausible as to motivation, but maybe half a century too early in its timing.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-91169644397273457622014-01-02T11:04:26.944+00:002014-01-02T11:04:26.944+00:00David and Dru,
There was a movement towards greate...David and Dru,<br />There was a movement towards greater refinement of language in the 18th century, and it's my understanding that we started calling asses 'donkeys' around that time to avoid using a word that sounded like 'arse'.<br />'Bum' was a normal word in the 16th-17th centuries (a bum-roll was a padded roll tied round a woman's hips to hold out her skirts). After going out of polite use it's been revived as part of the modern tendency to use childish words for indelicate subjects, like 'poo'.Kate Buntinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17223976536411967222noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-8959504411786193412014-01-01T16:17:05.160+00:002014-01-01T16:17:05.160+00:00Dru
And, by extension, ass is extended to a human...Dru<br /><br />And, by extension, <i>ass</i> is extended to a humans who has no thoughts but may make a lot of noise about that intellectual void. That's a <i>(braying) ass</i>. There's a somewhat passé expression usually equating to <i>upper-class twit</i> which replaced it, namely <i>silly ass</i>.<br /><br />It was a favourite expression of my mother's, which was unfortunate in someone who had paid an elocution teacher to replace her Swansea accent with RP. <br /><br />I'm not sure whether it was a Welsh thing or whether it was the difference between early-acquired and late-acquired RP or, indeed, whether all RP speakers of that generation spoke thus, but it came out as (non-rhotic) <i>silly arse</i>.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-22279683682697323922014-01-01T10:52:45.390+00:002014-01-01T10:52:45.390+00:00While on this subject, am I right in assuming that...While on this subject, am I right in assuming that everyone in the US knows that over here 'ass' means 'donkey'? The corresponding rude word for bottom is 'arse' pronounced with a long 'a' (+ the 'r' in rhotic areas only). I get the impression it is slightly more emphatically below the politeness threshold than 'ass'.Drunoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-35504680057161972812013-12-31T00:35:38.207+00:002013-12-31T00:35:38.207+00:00Autolycus
I'd forgotten about Bum! as an inte...Autolycus<br /><br />I'd forgotten about <i>Bum!</i> as an interjection. It wasn't part of my childhood, but I've heard it used much as Victoria Wood uses it — with imitation-childish, resigned exasperation.<br /><br />As with the noun use, the speaker invites us to think it's the rudest word he or she could think of when he or she was a child.David Crosbiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01858358459416955921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-84772072389818060872013-12-30T21:37:09.508+00:002013-12-30T21:37:09.508+00:00David Crosbie - no, "butt" is a little m...David Crosbie - no, "butt" is a little more vulgar, in polite contexts you'd more likely hear "Does this make me look fat?" and "getting people in seats". The first is pretty much a set phrase, the second isn't. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28787909.post-12679676306833914152013-12-30T17:54:17.669+00:002013-12-30T17:54:17.669+00:00Just to reinforce the comedic overtones of the wor...Just to reinforce the comedic overtones of the word:<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcQMrHkgSiUAutolycushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17642868944400656922noreply@blogger.com