DCHP-2

bumph bumf DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• n. — especially British Columbia, slang, derogatory, Urban culture

  publicity materials, such as flyers and brochures, and papers considered as worthless more generally.

  Type: 2. Preservation — This term is marked as British in most dictionaries and still occurs in the UK slightly more frequently than in Canada (see Chart 1). Originally an abbreviation for "bum-fodder", or toilet paper, bumf now refers to papers of little value. The term qualifies as a regionalism in British Columbia on account of its frequency (Chart 2), although it is found in Ontario as well. Today, a part of the term's meaning overlaps with junk (mail).
  See also COD-2, s.v. "bumph" (1) (also bumf), which is marked "Cdn & Brit", Gage-5, s.v. "bumf", marked "Slang", and OED-3, s.v. "bumf", marked "slang", W-3, s.v. "bumf", marked "slang Brit".

  • The spelling variants of bumph and bumf are roughly even in the Canadian press of the last two or three decades, with bumph being the older form and a historical respelling of "bum-fodder".