16

It is clear from this site that the verb to trump has been used extensively across Britain to refer to the breaking of wind. It is especially the case in the North, in Wales and certainly in Norfolk, when I was a child in the 1950s.

This use is confirmed by the OED. However though it is therein described as vulgar my own experience is that it was a term encouraged by parents as a means of avoiding the far less socially salubrious fart.

However its use appears to be unknown in the United States, which seems a pity! Is this definitely the case?

b. To give forth a trumpet-like sound; spec. to break wind audibly (slang or vulgar).

Improve this question
11
  • 3
    With the right context, I'm sure we AmEs could work out what you meant. But we certainly don't use trump to mean fart here.
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Aug 2, 2015 at 22:30
  • 5
    Believe me when I tell you if there's ever a President Trump, it will be a field day for American cartoonists as well.
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Aug 2, 2015 at 22:37
  • 6
    @DanBron Your comment was a lot funnier before the most recent U.S. presidential election.
    – Carlton
    Commented Nov 18, 2016 at 23:50
  • 7
    @Carlton Lots of things were funnier before the election. Or, to paraphrase that classic trio, the Animaniacs, "Things were 'ha-ha' funny, and now they're more 'uh-oh' funny".
    – Dan Bron
    Commented Nov 19, 2016 at 16:31
  • 4
    @WS2 Well, we have a President Trump, but AFAIK no cartoonists or comedians on this side of the pond have made the link to this British slang. There's plenty of other stuff about him to ridicule. Do British school children have a laugh at his name?
    – Barmar
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 19:34

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
9

It appears to be mainly a BrE slang expression:

To trump:

  • Over the centuries, fart has not been without linguistic rivals. Since the early fifteenth century, for example, trump has served as a synonym for fart, or rather to denote an especially noisy fart.

(A Dictionary of Culinary Curiosities) by Mark Morton

Trump:

  • Verb. To break wind from the anus, to 'fart'. E.g."There's a disgusting smell in here. Has someone trumped?"
  • Noun. 1. An act of breaking wind. 2)The resulting smell of having broke wind from the anus, a 'fart'.

(www.peevish.co.uk/slang)

Improve this answer
1
  • As someone pointed out on the site whose link I gave in the question, some biblical quotations, when I was a child at school always brought forth a snigger - e.g. 1 Corinthians 15.52 - the last trump shall sound.
    – WS2
    Commented Aug 2, 2015 at 22:44
6

Me and my 3 siblings all used "trump" as children instead of "fart". "Fart" was definitely considered to be the ruder of the two words, and my parents preferred that we said "trump". We don't use the word often now, as we're all adults and tend to say "fart" instead. We come from Warrington in North West England and mostly grew up in the '90s.

Improve this answer
0
1

In the U.S. there's a clearly related though gentler expression: "to toot." Mothers generally prefer children to say "toot" rather than "fart," as you can see on this Circle of Moms Question and answer page. There's also a children's rhyme, which you can read variations of on Wikipedia:

Beans, beans, the magical fruit
The more you eat the more you toot,
The more you toot the better you feel,
So let's have beans with every meal!

Improve this answer
2
  • 7
    Mean while in England we learned that "beans, beans, they're good for your heart - the more you eat the more you fart..." the rest of the rhyme was the same.
    – glenatron
    Commented Sep 21, 2015 at 23:42
  • @glenatron I'm in the US and I remember your version as well. It probably depends on the age of the kids reciting it -- teens and preteens probably prefer the more vulgar version, while smaller children will go with the version their parents use.
    – Barmar
    Commented Mar 28, 2017 at 19:30

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .