Bumbershoot

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Dr. Goodword
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Bumbershoot

Postby Dr. Goodword » Sun Jun 21, 2015 11:42 pm

• bumbershoot •

Pronunciation: bêm-bêr-shut • Hear it!
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Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: An umbrella or parasol, especially an old-fashioned one.

Notes: This word is one of the many nonsense words acceptable now in colloquial US English along with gobbledegook, snollygoster, stick-to-it-iveness. Remember that it ends in -shoot even though the origin of the pronunciation is probably that of -chute (see Word History).

In Play: Many Americans will remember this word from the song, "Me ol' bam-boo" in the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang:

Me ol' bam-boo, me ol' bam-boo
You'd better never bother with me ol' bam-boo
You can have me hat or me bum-ber-shoo
But you'd better never bother with me ol' bam-boo.

Today this word may be used more often in reference to the Seattle art and music festival, Bumbershoot. The festival received this name because it is an umbrella festival for all the arts in Seattle, rather than as a reference to that city's weather.

Word History: The origin of this word is fairly obvious, though no one knows for sure who created it or when. It seems to be a compromise between the beginning of umbrella (umber), with a replication of the B, plus the end of parachute. It was first remarked in 1896 in the Random House Historical Dictionary of the American Language, even though most Americans associate it with the British lower class. In fact, it is generally unknown in the UK. It is remindful of a child's mispronouncing umbrella like underbrella, as my son did when he was a child.
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LukeJavan8
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Re: Bumbershoot

Postby LukeJavan8 » Mon Jun 22, 2015 12:24 pm

Despite the tons of rain and umbrella sales
inside every store, this word, I guarantee won't catch on.
Curiosity, however.
-----please, draw me a sheep-----

Perry Lassiter
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Re: Bumbershoot

Postby Perry Lassiter » Tue Jun 23, 2015 3:01 pm

As a child, I had a book of children's stories that included a Paul Bunyan story called "Baby Rain Cloud." This little cloud got caught in a cave beneath the logging camp and started crying. The crying was experienced by the lumberjacks as raining upward. As the rain was running up their legs, the opened umbrellas and tied them on their feet. They named them Bumbershoots. Whenever the word shows up, I remember this story.
pl


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