I think I know the answer to this simple stupid question, but I obviously frequent Prius Chat and and other automotive websites. I know again obviously that the internet spans the globe and so you get different people with different languages and cultural perspectives. You know, someone from the UK is likely to say they are going to have their "Lid" repainted while someone from New Jersey is likely to say "Hood". But I admit, when I noticed some people saying "Bumber" for bumper...at first I thought it was just a random misspelling. But it happens regularly and repeatedly. So I just came to the conclusion that in other parts of the world...beyond my sheltered horizons some people call Bumpers..Bumbers... I just wondered if anyone could add insight, as locally in the Pacific NW of The United States nobody calls a Bumper a Bumber. And not that I really care...Hood...Lid...Bumper..or Bumber...but I always figured you called a bumper a bumper because ideally it's function is to prevent or cushion the vehicle from "bumps". I know what a bump is, but what is a "bumb"? At least with "Lid" I can see the logic...but Bumber? Just sounds wrong.
Cars don't have bumpers any more. Any little bump causes damage. Bumber? Never heard of it. I could see the one on the back being called a bummer...
Just do a search of this forum...or any automotive forum for that matter. People call the structure, which admittedly is no longer the classic "bumper" of cars of old...but people call any structure on the front or rear..either a bumper or a bumber.... Infact, I just unfortunately had to have the rear bumper of my Honda Fit repaired...it was refered to as a "bumper assembly" regardless of the fact that it's basicly form fitted plastic attached to shock asorbing material.
It is strictly a mis-spelling and adapted to it as a lingo. I hate to see people spell brake as "break".
I have heard it referred to as "fender" (i.e. "fender bender") but mostly bumper. When I was in high school people would "love tap" your car. Drive 1-3mph and ram your rear bumper... on purpose... for fun... Really annoying.
Unfortunately, I think that it is just a case of people not being able to spell or are just bad typists. I have always known it as a bumper (when it was an actual lump of metal, we knew it as a bumber bar) and still call the mouldered piece of plastic that is attached to the front and back of the car as the bumper.
Well thanks everyone for your input. I originally thought it was spelling errors, or bad typing but if then I'm suprised at how common the mistake is, I see it all the time. Guess I'll file it in the same file with Loser and Looser...the other mistake I see all the time.
Is this like people who say "I could care less" when they actually mean they could not care less? That is they care so little that it would not be possible for them to care any less about it.
Here's the REAL answer. Brits call their backsides their bum...so the backside of the car is a bummer...or bumber with a silent b. (I just made this up...but it sounds plausible.)
There are quite a few languages/accents in the world that doesn't quite differentiate the sound of "p" from "b" (correct me if I'm wrong, but Spanish, Indian are examples.) Some people maybe heard Spanish speaking people say "bumber" and so they just spell it that way thinking that's the actual spelling? Just a guess. It did confuse me when the first time I heard my Indian colleague said "I gotta go bee". But later I got so used to him saying "bee" I didn't confuse his "USB" with "you nice person pee".
Irregardless if you care, allot of people think your just a looser. ;-) I read yesterday the most searched word currently is 'refudiate' - Sarah Palin's newest creation, an apparent combination of repudiate and refute. What bothers me (among other things) is people using "could of" instead of "could've" or "could have". I think "allot" is used more often now because spell-checker flags "alot" and a lot of people don't know "allot" is completely different from their intended meaning.
