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Message # 49892.1.1.2

Subject: Re:off topic question: British English vs. American English

Date: Thu 14/04/11 04:28:21 GMT

Name: boxwet

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bum is probably short for bottom, a homeless person is uasualiy pictured as some bummer sitting on his but or bum, or on the bottom (meaning without a cheair on the ground (bottom)

in dutch (southern) slang: boam (pronaunced as Bum means also backside or ass

In reply to Message (49892.1.1)

Re:off topic question: British English vs. American English

By Winchester 1961 - timsinct@telkomsa.net Thu 14/04/11 03:13:15 GMT

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There is "Queens English", and "American English"! Generally speaking a homeless person is a tramp (in Queens English)! Bum is slang for a posterior of a person, not in polite usage!! Other words that have the same meaning, USA/England: trunk/boot (car), hood/bonnet (car), wind shield/wind screen (car), sidewalk/pavement, gas/petrol, to name a few! Incidentally, the expression in the UK, "what a bummer" means what a screw up/cock up. Slightly offbeat, but I am a fan of Mythbusters on Discovery Channel, and everything is mentioned in miles, feet, pounds, etc by the presenters, and the narrator talks in kilometres, metres, and kilorgrams! How confusing or what??

In reply to Message (49892.1)

Re:off topic question: British English vs. American English [nt]

By Georg - Thu 14/04/11 00:32:56 GMT

Website: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=bum&searchmode=none

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In reply to Message (49892)

off topic question: British English vs. American English

By G.O.P. - Wed 13/04/11 21:55:23 GMT

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I have long wondered about a variance in the British version of the English language and the American version, and I figured this site with users on both sides of the Atlantic is as good of a place as any to ask this. To we Americans, the word "bum" means a homeless person, but to the British the word "bum" means the butt. Are these two meanings of the word related? Why is it that the word "bum" means one thing in America and something different in England? When we Americans call homeless people "bums" are we essentially calling them "assholes"? I have long been curious about this.

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