[Ads-l] Antedating of "Bummer" (Unpleasant Experience)

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Great work, Ben. It is odd that neither of the two definitions given
in the slang dictionary correspond to the OED definitions. Hence, the
OED editors may not use this citation. Yet, I conjecture that the
students were using "bummer" with the OED sense: "A disappointing,
unpleasant, or unwanted situation or experience; a disappointment, a
failure." The person who constructed the definitions misunderstood the
intended meaning of the students.

[Begin excerpt from cougartown.com slang dictionary]
bummer
noun; 1. An ironic test. Sudden turn over of events. O Henry stories
often end with a bummer. 2. Something that is unpredictable or
difficult to control. This movie projector is really a bummer.
[End excerpt from cougartown.com slang dictionary]

The best-known O. Henry story is "The Gift of the Magi". The students
may have read this much-anthologized tale in which a man gives jeweled
combs to a woman who has cut her hair, and a woman gives a gold watch
chain to a man who has sold his watch. Perhaps a student called this
situation a bummer, i.e., an unwanted situation. Admittedly, the
overall moral of the sentimental story was uplifting.

A student dealing with a recalcitrant projector might have used the
word bummer to label an unpleasant situation.

Garson

On Sun, Jan 4, 2026 at 2:41 PM Ben Zimmer
<00001aae0710f4b7-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> The Hawthorne High School slang dictionary from '65 is online here (only
> text, no page images):
>
> https://cougartown.com/slang-dict1.html (introduction)
> https://cougartown.com/slang-dict2.html (includes "bummer" entry)
>
> On Sun, Jan 4, 2026 at 1:50 PM ADSGarson O'Toole <
> 00001aa1be50b751-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
>
> > A 2006 edition of Partridge lists a 1965 date for "bummer". The
> > citation points to a self-published dictionary of high school slang.
> >
> > Date: 2006 Copyright
> > Title: The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English
> > Volume 1: A - I
> > Editor: Terry Victor; Senior Editor: Tom Dalzell
> > Quote Page 295
> > Publisher: Routledge Taylor & Francis Group, London
> > Database: Google Books Preview
> >
> > [Begin entry excerpt]
> > bummer noun
> > 2 a disappointing of depressing event US
> > - Miss Cone, The Slang Dictionary (Hawthorne High School), 1965
> > [End entry excerpt]
> >
> > [Begin bibliographical entry, Page 2167]
> > Cone, Miss
> > The Slang Dictionary (Hawthorne High School), self-published
> > Hawthorne, California, 1965
> > [End bibliographical entry]
> >
> > Ben Yagoda mentioned the instance of "bummer" in Thompson's "Hell's
> > Angels". JL's Random House Historical Dictionary of American Slang has
> > pertinent entries for "bummer" on page 311 of volume 1. JL also lists
> > "Hell's Angels" with a 1966 date.
> >
> > The May 1966 issue of McCall's Magazine contains the article by
> > Pauline Kael which described "The Sound of Music" as "the sugarcoated
> > lie that people seem to want to eat". That issue of McCall's Magazine
> > is available in the Internet Archive. Below is a link. I did not see
> > the word "bummer" in Kael's article. Rich Lowenthal also did not find
> > "bummer" in a reprint of Kael's article.
> >
> >
> > https://archive.org/details/sim_rosie_1966-05_93_8/page/154/mode/2up?q=sugarcoated
> >
> > Garson
> >
> > On Sun, Jan 4, 2026 at 2:13 AM ADSGarson O'Toole
> > <adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > Excellent citations, Fred. Based on the match you found I found the
> > > same text in a newspaper that was published six days earlier. The
> > > words were spoken by a person at "Whisky a-Go-Go" on the Sunset Strip.
> > >
> > > Date: October 24, 1966
> > > Newspaper: San Francisco Chronicle
> > > Newspaper Location: San Francisco, California
> > > Article: As L.A. Goes It's Real Gone
> > > Author: Arthur Hoppe
> > > Quote Page 43, Column 5
> > > Database: Newspapers.com
> > >
> > >
> > https://www.newspapers.com/article/san-francisco-chronicle-bummer/188138504/
> > >
> > > [Begin excerpt]
> > > Stepping into a typical, average establishment called "The Whisky
> > > a-Go-Go," I spent two hours exhaustively interviewing such typical,
> > > average voters as a little old boy in short pants and tennis shoes, a
> > > lady in spangled trousers and matching halter and something in a
> > > sailor suit, black net stockings and deerskin boots eating raisins.
> > >
> > > Unfortunately, my notes are few because I couldn't hear any answers
> > > except when the band wasn't playing. But they include: "You trying to
> > > put me on a bummer?" "Like it's a freak out, man." And, inevitably:
> > > "What are you, some kind of nut?"
> > > [End excerpt]
> > >
> > > The OED has another sense of "bummer" which is linked to LSD. The
> > > first OED citation for this sense was from 1968. Below is a match in
> > > November 1966.
> > >
> > > [Begin OED excerpt]
> > > bummer noun
> > > 2. An unpleasant or distressing (psychological) experience caused by
> > > taking a hallucinogenic drug (especially LSD). Cf. bad trip n., bum
> > > trip n.
> > > [End OED excerpt]
> > >
> > > Date: November 18, 1966
> > > Newspaper: Berkeley Daily Gazette
> > > Newspaper Location: Berkeley, California
> > > Article: A Reporter's Quest: How Users Look at LSD -- Glorious, Dangerous
> > > Quote Page 12, Column 3
> > > Database: Newspapers.com
> > >
> > >
> > https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-berkeley-gazette-bummertrip/188139241/
> > >
> > > [Begin excerpt]
> > > "I think it's like this," said the 20-year-old collegion after the
> > > first "bummer" trip had passed from his mind for the very first time,
> > > "LSD is a poison in your system attacks your mind.
> > > [End excerpt]
> > >
> > > Garson
> > >
> > > On Sat, Jan 3, 2026 at 8:41 PM Shapiro, Fred
> > > <00001ac016895344-dmarc-request at listserv.uga.edu> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > bummer (OED 1967)
> > > >
> > > > 1966 Chula Vista Star-News 30 Oct. 12/4 (Californis Digital Newspaper
> > Collection)  You trying to put me on a bummer.
> > > >
> > > > 1966 College Times (California State University, Los Angeles) 16 Dec.
> > 5/3 (JSTOR)  When they're playing games and you're not, it's kind of a
> > bummer.
> > > >
> > > > Fred Shapiro
> > > >
> >
>
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