That part of the body which is officially titled the gluteus maximus also goes by other names such as behind, derriere, posterior, rear and quite a few colourful names as well.

However, why on earth is it sometimes called a 'backside'? The bottom of our back is not at the side. Just one of those things that you ponder at bus stops etc.

.... hmmm. Now please do enlighten us as to what makes you: "ponder this at bustops"?
I ponder too , about 'bum'.Now there's a strange name for the same area. Any ideas?
(Oxford Words and Phrases says it is probably Scandinavian ['backside', I mean] from the Norwegian 'bakside', but it doesn't say why.)

If you knew how often the bus comes along on time you would have things like this to ponder as well.

As regards 'bum' as in the posterior and 'bum' the American terminology for a homeless person I am also at a loss. We often use bum as a mild swear word which makes no sense at all in relation to the above two meanings.

I would assume it is 'backside' as opposed to 'topside' or 'frontside'. Do any of you use the word 'bum' as we do here, as a synonym for 'borrow', or, better, 'cadge' (that is, borrow with no intention of repaying)? It's usually used in connection with cigarettes and small change, and so therefore could probably be traced to the use of 'bum' for homeless person.

This was my pondering... it isn't the side of the back - it is the bottom of the back, but then bottomback and bottombottom would be a sight worse.

Sounds like Brisbane's public transport system has a lot to answer for! Hong Kong's may be suspect too!

According to Bill Bryson's "Made in America", a book about the American variant of the English language, this is the origin of bum: "Bum in the sense of a tramp appears to be a shortening of the German "bummler", a loafer and ne'er-do-well".

In another Bill Bryson book, "Mother Tongue", he mentioned that "bumfodden" is German for toilet paper, so perhaps this is where bum meaning posterior comes from?

I don't speak German so I can't vouch for the veracity of the above. Perhaps one of our German forum members can enlighten us?

According to the On-line Etymology Dictionary (http://www.etymonline.com/ ):

"bum (1) "buttocks," 1387, "probably onomatopoeic, to be compared with other words of similar sound and with the general sense of 'protuberance, swelling.' " [OED]

bum (2) "dissolute loafer, tramp," 1864, Amer.Eng., from bummer "loafer, idle person" (1855), possibly an extension of the British word for "backside" (similar development took place in Scotland, 1540), but more prob. from Ger. slang bummler "loafer," from bummeln "go slowly, waste time." Bum first appears in a Ger.-Amer. context, and bummer was popular in the slang of the North's army in Amer. Civil War (as many as 216,000 Ger. immigrants in the ranks). Bum's rush "forcible ejection" first recorded 1910. Bummer "bad experience" is 1960s slang.

It didn't have anything about "backside" although the etymology behind other words of this ilk (such as tush, [censored] etc) are fascinating.

Edited to add: the censored word is another word for a donkey - not an offensive word in Australia but obviously the FunTrivia software doesn't like it. We use a slightly different word in this context!

My mother's first language was German, and she certainly used phrases like 'bumming around' and 'bumming along' to imply loafing.

Re: "but was actually a shortening of bump..."

Interesting idea and makes a lot of sense!

I was talking to my husband (Maynooth) about this thread in the car on the way home from work yesterday. He said they'd been having a similar discussion at his workplace about why we call that portion of our anatomy our "bottom" when it is not at the bottom but in the middle of our bodies!

(Seems everyone has a fixation with bums! )

Maynooth wants to know "Why do we call it our rear end when it's really our rear middle?"

Are you sure Maynooth doesn't ponder while waiting for the bus as well?

Perhaps 'rear end' relates to bottom of the trunk or torso. Then rear end can also be used at the back of a car which is where the trunk (U.S.) is located.

Aah, the thot plickens.

Re: "Are you sure Maynooth doesn't ponder while waiting for the bus as well?"

No, he doesn't have to ponder in his own time - he works for the government!

LOL !

You mean you literally had your mouth washed out with soap? I thought it was only a phrase where your dear old Mum threatened you.

Re: "You mean you literally had your mouth washed out with soap"

I never did but my cousins sure did! My mother never had to threaten me with that because I wouldn't have dared swear. But my male cousins did and I vividly remember watching my aunt wash their mouths out with soap - literally! After that, whenever they swore, their sister and I would dob them in to my aunt in the hope of seeing a repeat performance - but it never happened.

Googling 'bumfodder' brought up this:

bumf [military] n :
bureaucratic paperwork, marketing collateral, or any interveniant documentation, from bum-fodder = toilet paper [German bumfodden = toilet paper].
But other sites ,as you said Chris, deny that 'bumfodden' exists. So where did the army get 'bumf'from? Weird....

According to Chambers and the OED, "bumf" is simply short for the plain English "bum-fodder." I can't understand where the alleged German word comes from: it's unknown to the "Sprach-Brockhaus" dictionary and to the Duden "Deutsches Universal-Wörterbuch," and doesn't seem to have any obvious connection to any other German words.

I actually noticed that there are a couple of "fake-German" words out there. E.g. it happened to me several times when I told people I am German, that they wanted to say something in German and they said a word which is similar to a rude slang term for toilet, but it always has the same error in it. (I don't want to write the word here, because I don't want to teach the younger FT members wrong or rude German )

So obviously, many people know this non-existent word. Is it possible that there are people out there who have so much spare time, that they sit down and create fake languages? It would be an interesting job to have though, because you can't make any mistakes. Whatever you say will be correct

Off topic a fraction - I am going to see Bill Bryson on Friday night - should I ask him about this?