Alice Munro-filter: What on earth does "b.t.m" stand for?

October 14, 2013 7:55 AM

I've been devouring the Alice Munro stories that have been popping up online since her big win. In one, "The Beggar Maid", a character says, in reference to tight clothing, "“You wouldn’t want your b.t.m. to show, now would you?” What does this refer to?

It's hardly central to the story, but googling hasn't yielded anything and I'm awfully curious to see if I'm missing out on some interesting older slang. The story was published in 1977 but reads like the events happened earlier.

posted by ZaphodB to Media & Arts (8 answers total)

Best answer: bottom
posted by pipeski at 7:57 AM on October 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Yes, it's slightly old-fashioned here (UK) and means bottom (ass, rear end, behind). My grandmother and aunt used it.
posted by altolinguistic at 7:59 AM on October 14, 2013 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: 2 answers in 4 minutes. Metafilter, you rock. Thanks folks!
posted by ZaphodB at 8:02 AM on October 14, 2013 [2 favorites]

But what do the B, T and M stand for?
posted by DarlingBri at 8:32 AM on October 14, 2013

Best answer: BoTtoM
posted by KokuRyu at 8:36 AM on October 14, 2013 [5 favorites]

BoTtoM

Really?!?! (You just made that up, didn't you?)
posted by DarlingBri at 11:40 AM on October 14, 2013

Not at all. It's an attempt to bowdlerize the too-shocking word; much like saying "f_ck you".
posted by IAmBroom at 3:05 PM on October 14, 2013

It doesn't really stand for anything, so KokuRyu has it right :-)
posted by altolinguistic at 9:55 AM on October 15, 2013