Is Being Bummed Just Being Aggravated or is it Being Devastated?

Hi there. You have A Way with Words.

Hi, Martha. My name is Mia, and I’m calling from Iowa City. How are you today?

Hey, Mia. I’m doing great. We’re glad to have you. What’s up?

There is a word that I don’t understand, and I’ll just go right to it. It is the word bummed or bummer or bummed out.

So if something goes wrong, you’re bummed like that?

Well, I could give a little bit more context. Grant, that’s correct.

So my fiance is a little bit older than me, and he’s from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and I come from the Midwest.

And frequently when something isn’t going his way, he’ll say that he’s bummed out or super bummed.

And potentially I’m a little bit too concerned about his well-being.

And I think that something is really, really wrong when he says that he’s super bummed.

But then he backs down and he says, no, no, no, it’s just it’s like slightly, slightly annoying or slightly uncomfortable, where to me, if I were to say, gosh, I’m so bummed out or super bummed out, that would be a big deal.

So I’m not quite sure what bummed or bummed out means. I don’t know where the word comes from. And he and I can’t agree upon the meaning or the correct usage of these words. So can you help me out?

So it’s a matter of degrees, a difference of opinion on how exactly, how negative a situation of being bummed out is.

That’s it. You’ve nailed the problem that I’m running into.

Well, you explained it well, Mia.

Martha, what do you think? If I came to you and said, oh, I’m so bummed about the way this happened, what would you think?

Would you think that, like, it was irreversible or terrible or that we really needed to, like, I don’t know, call in the producer or call in the police?

You know, I think it depends on how you present it. If you said, I am so bummed, that’s going to be different from I’m so bummed.

Yeah. Yeah. So if I just said bummer and then moved on, then you would know that it wasn’t a big deal.

Yeah. Context, of course, always matters, Mia.

And I wonder if it’s just that you are a really sensitive individual and your love for him is what’s really coming into play here.

That your sensitivity to his feelings because he’s someone that you care for is really having a lot of influence on your reading of this.

Because you don’t obviously want him to be in a terrible situation that needs fixing.

But in general, my understanding of being bummed is that it’s not like being aggravated.

It’s a little milder than being aggravated.

Oh, I’m going to get a lot of email about that, aren’t I?

Well, it’s certainly not devastated.

Yeah, devastated, that’s a better word.

Yeah, oh, I’m so devastated.

Yeah, bummed.

I mean, you can be bummed about all kinds of little things, right?

Yeah, you could be bummed about not getting tickets for a baseball game that you want to go to.

Or you could be bummed about missing your chance to see a friend who was in town, but you just couldn’t make it work.

But you could also be bummed about your food arriving from a restaurant that you really love, and it’s all over the inside of the bag, and it’s inedible.

Yeah, I think that’s a good bummed example.

So Mia, thank you so much for making us look a little more closely at this word.

I never really thought about it before.

You know what? This helps us so much, and this conversation was definitely not a bummer.

So thank you so much for your time today.

Thank you.

And you don’t sound like a bummer at all either, Mia.

Give our best to your guy, all right?

Yeah, thanks so much. Take care.

Take care. Bye-bye.

Thanks.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

Of course, I didn’t even mention bum idea, bum leg, bum deal.

These are all the same bum.

They’re all as bum is just a broken or incorrect or faulty or fake version of the thing.

Yeah, and the more I think about it, the more mild it seems, you know?

I mean, if you talk about a bum leg, it’s sort of like you’re resigned to having it.

You know, it’s just this chronic condition that I have.

It’s my bum leg.

It’s not like this devastating injury to my leg.

It’s just kind of a condition.

Yeah, and a bum deal is usually something.

That’s not something that wipes you out.

It’s usually something like maybe it’s something that you’ve moved on from or that you could back out of.

And a bum idea is usually one that you’ve discarded and not one that you’re stuck with.

Well, we’d love to know your opinion.

So give us a call 877-929-9673 or send it to us an email.

That address is words@waywordradio.org.