/zUmzUm/

[Herb Stahlke]

The first time I saw the commercial, I couldn't figure out what the kid was saying.  It didn't sound like /zumzum/.  I'll stick with /zUm/.

I obviously messed up on the bomb.  It goes /bum/, not /boom/.  But I've heard a fair number of parents and other relatives say to a toddler who just did, "Fall down go /bUm/."  Not /bum/.

I agree with another poster that the ad has a European quality to it, and the dialect or nationality of the kid may be indeterminable.

Herb

<<< RonButters at AOL.COM  8/26  2:14p >>>
In a message dated 8/25/2001 8:17:49 PM, hstahlke at GW.BSU.EDU writes:

<< This brings to mind the distinction between /bUm/ and /boom/.  A bomb goes
/boom/, but a toddler falling on its bum goes /bUm/.

Herb >>

Not in my dialect--it is [bum], not [bUm], in both cases. Did you check a
dictionary on this, just out of curiosity?

By the way, I listened to the commercial in question last night and it
appeared to me that the kid was ALSO saying [zum] (not [zUm]). Not sure there
is a controversy here at all.