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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Hi, Bean. No, we don't use the word bum to mean anatomy, but it's easy to tell by the context alone which sense is meant by a speaker: we wouldn't, for ex., tell a child to go sit on "a" bum! It would always take a possessive pronoun, I imagine. Here's the link to the B.U.M. equipment website: http://www.bumequipment.com/intro.htmlIt says the clothing company was started in a garage in Seattle, as a mild mockery of people who went around in clothes emblazoned with the name of their local gym. By the way, I've printed out your explanation of time being a dimension and not having momentum. EDIT: dag nab it, tsuwm!! Beat me out again!
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Well, Bean, I have to admit to being more partial to bottoms than hobos! I recognise the other meaning too, in context. I also recognise Helen's phrases, including a bum note.
Here’s a nice sidelight on this meaning, from the London Times a few days ago!
Going With A Song
The most traumatic experience in my organ-playing career came not at a wedding but at a funeral. In my student days I sometimes deputised on the electronic organ in the local crematorium. It was a wheezy old instrument, and something about the way it was wired meant it had a tendency to pick up radio signals in certain atmospheric conditions.
One day the inevitable happened. The priest said “Let us sing Abide With Me, and I switched the organ on. But before my fingers hit the keys, a sound came out that set my heart pounding. “Wonder-ful Raaa-di-o One! It’s a Faaaaant-abulous Day in Swinga-ding-ding London,” said an inanely cheery voice from inside the organ.
Frantically I switched off, on, off again. The prattle continued regardless. “Here’s a song for every body stuck inside today!” the voice said. Thirty faces turned to glare at me, each one the spitting image of Munch’s The Scream. And then the crematorium was filled with the fantabulous sound of Gladys Knight and the Pips.
The priest rose superbly to the occasion. “How wonderful for dear Jack to depart this world on such a vibrant note,” he shouted over the music. And dear Jack’s coffin lurched out of sight to the strains of Help Me Make It Though The Night.
Much more appropriate than Abide With Me, we all agreed later. But the crematorium must have lost my telephone number, because my services were not requested again.
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old hand
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OP
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I hear the word bum for buttocks every once in awhile, usually older generations.... except phrase "cute as a baby's bum" which transcends generations.
When I hear "bum" I sometimes think of "bottom" first as that is where my mind oft dwells ... a lot depends on context ... when I first saw the B.U.M. T-shirts I wondered what the letters stood for (still don't know) and then wondered why anyone would use the word BUM as a name thereby advertising that the product is bum (i.e. bad, inferior, worthless.) Then I bethought "Ah Ha! Corporate thinking" and that explained it all!
Meanwhile, dear Bean, in answer to your post : if I wore a shirt that said T. I. T., you would all giggle first and ask questions later, wouldn't you?
No, actually I would extrapolate Tit to Titmouse as the dictionary says tit is a short form of titmouse and probably (smart a** that I am) sweetly ask you) "Are you an ornithologist?"
How-some-ever, if you were wearing a shirt emblazoned with TEAT .... Well! (note restraint of impulse to use blush emoticon)
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Pooh-Bah
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Traditionally the word bum to Americans has meant a down-and-out person or a hobo as described above. But thanks to comedian Michael Meyers formerly of Saturday Night Live many Americans are acquainted with the other, British meaning. (Meyers used to do a character named Simon who was a little British boy and he would say "Hello. My name is Simon, and I like to do drawings. [pronounced "drour-ings"] ...Are you looking at my bum? You cheeky monkey! Bum-looker!" etc
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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In reply to:
Honestly, the first thing I think of when I see the word bum - no article, pronoun, or anything else - is the anatomical version. I get a fairly vivid mental image. I can't seem to prevent it. And I know my mother is of the same opinion because we discussed this once.
Aha. I zink we may be near a breakthrough in your analysis. Is zis image of zum particular person'z nezzer regions or of a Platonic ideal of the human buttockses?
Bingley
Bingley
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addict
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addict
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For the word "bum" I also tend to think of the "part of the anatomy" meaning rather than "hobo". Speaking of lines of clothing with peculiar writing on them, how about the trendy high street label French Connection? The complete name is "French Connection UK", and they print, stencil or embroider their initials visibly on many of their articles of clothing. Many people walk around with "fcuk" on their T-shirts, and sometimes the makers of the clothes have played with the word to make double-meaning slogans. One I have seen just recently is "Too busy to fcuk", but they have many different ones. How is that for an attention-grabbing marketing strategy? 
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old hand
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B.U.M. isn't as sillly to me as is Jordache. The first time I was a woman with a tight pair of trousers proclaiming, "Jordache" across her bum, I thought to myself, "If they weren't so tight, her jord wouldn't ache," Now, just what is a jord? Oh, all this is giving me a headache, or a concentration cramp, or something...
The whole idea that we are so gullible that we allow mass marketing types to SELL US their advertisements sickens me!
"Lord, what fools these mortals be..." Puck
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old hand
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he first time I was a woman Oops, TYPO!!! saw, NOT was. Never have switched genders 
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