If a Chimple Is a Chin Dimple, Then a Bimple Is A…

Karen in Charlotte, North Carolina, adores her son’s cleft chin. Her husband, who also has one, calls it a butt chin. Karen prefers chimple, a combination of chin and dimple. Did she coin it? This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “If a Chimple Is a Chin Dimple, Then a Bimple Is A…”

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, how are you?

Hi, I’m doing well.

Who are you and how are you and where are you?

So my name is Karen and I am from Charlotte, North Carolina. And I’m doing great, thank you. I’m excited to find out the answer to my question.

Welcome to the show. Let’s hear the question.

Okay, so my son has a chin dimple. His dad has a chin dimple. I think that they’re really cute. His dad refers to it as a butt chin. And I told him that I don’t like that because that has a negative connotation. And I think the word chimple, you know, it’s a contraction. Chin, dimple, chimple is really cute. Everyone loves pimples. But nobody, when I say it, everyone’s like, huh? And I’m like, you know, chin, dimple, chimple. But everyone acts like they have no idea what I’m saying. So I want to know. C-H-I-M-P-L-E. Someone else has to have used this, right?

Other people have definitely used it. It’s even in one slang book that I have. And it’s on Urban Dictionary, which is, of course, the source of all kinds of crazy stuff.

So you’re not bothered by the fact that this word has the other word chimp inside of it? C-H-I-M-P?

Well, no.

So you’re not calling your husband and your son chimps? Little chimps?

No, because it’s a chimple. It’s not. And you don’t think people are going to think it’s a chin pimple?

No. Everybody I’ve said it to is like, oh, that’s actually kind of cute.

It is cute. It absolutely is. I think I can hear the difference. It’s way cuter than butt chin.

I like butt chin, though, but I’m a crass individual. That’s what I grew up called. I had an uncle with a butt chin, and that’s what we call it. I do have an interesting little factoid about it, though.

Oh, yes. Please share.

Yeah. So the reason people have those is because it’s actually a genetic variant that causes a split in the jawbone at the bottom. And so their skin sinks into that space and it causes that.

That’s very cool. How about them apples?

I love it. Well, yeah, chimpel is a fun word. We’ll hope that others pick it up here. And I can just hear the affection in your voice as you talk about your family. So that’s sweet too.

Yeah, I think they’re really cute. And I wish more people thought that they were as cute as cheek temples because nobody calls them butt cheeks.

Well, here we go. Here’s a rhyme that you can take back.

All right. A dimple in the chin, your living comes in. A dimple in the cheek, your living you seek. And so this is an old rhyme. So basically, if you have a dimple in the chin, money comes to you easily. If you have a dimple in the cheek, money comes to you very difficultly. Or how about this rhyme? Your husband would look weird if he had a beard. I just made that up.

Mine are real, Martha. Here’s another one. A dimple on the chin, a devil within.

I can see how all of these apply. All right. Well, Karen, thank you so much for calling. I hope that word spreads.

Yeah, absolutely. You weren’t the first one to coin it, though, so you can feel proud, but not that proud.

I did not think that I was. Thank you so much. I hope you guys have a wonderful week.

All right. Be well.

Okay, you too. Bye-bye.

Bye to the family.

Bye-bye.

877-929-9673. We all talk about word history with you.

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

More from this show