Guess What 'trump' Means in British Slang
Some people’s names just seem appropriate.
A minister in Paducah, where I used to be a reporter and a history teacher, is named “Gottman,” which is of German origin and means “man of God.”
There was a pastor in the same town named “Angel,” which seems equally suitable.
Anyway, my wife’s cousin, a Louisville native who lives in Baltimore, emailed me a link to WordReference.com, a British webpage which suggests that a well-known American politician is aptly named.
Apparently, “trump” is British slang for flatulence.
“I have just returned from my first visit to my new great-nephew in Derbyshire,” says the posting from “Loob,” who adds, “I was unutterably delighted, not by the fact that Great-Nephew frequently breaks wind, but by the fact that his mother and father both call this activity ‘trumping’."
“Loob” added: “I grew up using ‘trump’ instead of ‘fart’ (both noun and verb), a fact which I had attributed to my Welsh parentage; I'd never heard anyone outside the immediate family using it. Now my nephew's wife tells me it's the usual term in Derbyshire, and I find it in the OED [Oxford English Dictionary] with no regional attribution –
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"verb:
“b. To give forth a trumpet-like sound; spec. to break wind audibly (slang or vulgar).
"noun:
“e. slang or vulgar. The act of breaking wind audibly.
"So, my question is:
“Is trump = fart in general use in (1) BrE [British English] (2) other varieties of English?”
Loob posed his query in 2009. Evidently nobody ever answered him.
I’ve never heard anybody call a “fart” a “trump” in my neck of the Bluegrass State woods.
Nonetheless, count me in for transplanting "trump" from Old World to New.
But I’d use a capital T.
Berry Craig
