[Magdalen] Timely c***noscopy query.

[Marion Thompson]

I have read that in North America bum and bummer derive from a German 
'bummler', to stroll aimlessly, or something.  That would go along with 
'... I'm a bum' and the hobo connection.

Marion, a pilgrim


On 6/2/2016 4:39 AM, Lesley de Voil wrote:
> When I was a child, my younger brothers would delight in singing the pop song "Hallelujah I'm a bum.." Simply so that they could argue with our mother that it was all right to use that word, as they had "heard it on the radio." "Bummer" came along a lot later when my own sons found it at roughly the same age.
> Regards
> Lesley de Voil
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: "Allan Carr" <allanc25 at gmail.com>
> Sent: ‎2/‎06/‎2016 18:20
> To: "magdalen at herberthouse.org" <magdalen at herberthouse.org>
> Subject: Re: [Magdalen] Timely c***noscopy query.
>
> On Wednesday, June 1, 2016, James Oppenheimer-Crawford <
> oppenheimerjw at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> What a bummer!
>
> I remember when I first heard this word "bummer" from my step-daughter in
> the mid 1970's. It was strange and I never forgot it.
>
> Today, out of curiousity, I looked it up and, in Merriam Webster, found
> First Known Use: 1966
>
> In 1966 at this first use, I was already 35. I'll bet most of you never
> thought about it and assumed it had been around forever.
> The definition makes it more clear:
> An unpleasant experience (as a bad reaction to a hallucinogenic drug).
>
> I'm trying to remember the British useage, but it's already morning. Maybe
> tomorrow (by which I mean later today).
>
>
>
>
>