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)
Further reading
What do you call a long sandwich filled with lots of ingredients? Whether you call it a sub, a hoagie, a grinder, or something else entirely depends on where you’re from. And: Martha’s visit to an Alaskan reindeer ranch reveals why you...
Is there such a thing as a “neutral” accent, and if so what does it sound like? And that quirk in the way southern Californians talk about freeways. They’ll say things like take the 405 and get on the 8. Why the definite article...