Why do they call homless people bums?

Question

Whats the significance in calling the bum? Where does the word bum originate from?

Answer 1

Bum "vagrant, tramp", comes from bummer, which is "one who loafs". Bummer first appears in 1855, and its derivative bum appears in 1864. Bummer is thought to be a modified form of Bummler, German meaning "one who loafs", and that came ultimately from German bummeln "to dangle or loaf". Also of the British term Bum, which means one's backside, or as reffered to a person who "sits on their @ss".

Cheers :-)

Answer 2

Your question piqued my interest. As a child (I was born in 1943), we often had hobos come to our home, looking for a meal and willing to work for it. It was many years before I heard the word bum, and learned that those using it were refering to those we once called hobos.
As time went on, both hobo and bum became names of people not to be trusted, and possibly was correctly supposed, as these later bums/hobos were of a whole new generation who were largely homeless and out of work by choice, though I never heard anyone referred to as homeless until I was well into my adulthood.
Until sometime around the 60's, when many chose to live on the road, noone was really ever homeless who had a family. Things were different then, and, as Robert Frost said, "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in." Alas, that is no longer true.
Many are homeless and have no family willing or able to take them in. As a consequence of the VietNam war, there was a cultural revolution in America . The homeless are everywhere--not just in big cities or urban areas. Many are families, many of these families have only one parent, often the mother. It is a tragic situation.
But I have not answered your question. My answer--I do not know why anyone would call a homeless person a bum who did not know the specific reason for his homelessness. Furthur, I have never heard anyone call a homeless person a bum. In the area where I live, the homeless who have no one else are ministered to by different community organizations, and no one looks down on them, or addresses them rudely. I am sorry that you have had to witness such things. Maybe you could be the one to "Make a Difference". Begin to work on enlisting some civic organization or church group to help you to better the situation for the homeless in your area. It is no small job, but one dedicated person can change things.

Answer 3

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


bum (2) Look up bum at Dictionary.com
"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.

Answer 4

Someone who does nothing all day and expects everyone to bend over backwards to please them. Thats a bum lol. somebody who has nothing and doesnt do anything to change that, just like a bum. But dont get me wrong, not all homeless people are bums, some have jobs, just cannot afford an appartment or anything

Answer 5

bum or bummer-
1. a person who avoids work and sponges on others; loafer; idler.
2. a tramp, hobo, or derelict.

[Origin: 1860–65, Americanism; shortening of or back formation from bummer; adj. senses of unclear relation to sense “loafer” and perh. of distinct orig.]

Answer 6

origin: 1860-65, Americanism perh. shortening of or back formation from bummer; adj; senses of unclear relation to sense " loafer" and perh. of distinct orig

Answer 7

Maybe cos they sit on the curb??

And it is spelled HOMELESS.

Answer 8

I am very sorry
for all of them .