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humbum

humbum
 n.— «Is there anybody left who knows about humbums from the Depression days?…Maybe it was two words: hum bums?…They were kind of like fritters, made of selvage bread-dough pieces and plopped into hot oil. There they sizzled, expanded, turned reddish-brown.…You could slaver them with butter or powdered sugar or jam.…Humbums were yumptious.…My lineage is part French, so maybe it’s a French thing? I have fancied an etymology from hommes bonnes. They often ended up looking like little fat men.» —“Anyone got the dope on humbums?” St. Paul Pioneer Press (Minn.) Feb. 15, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)

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