Growing up in the 80-90s of the XX century, they are accustomed to thinking that bummer is exclusively failure in one form or another. In other words, we simply don’t see a meaning behind this word that refers to a common language, and not to jargon. It is time to restore justice and consider all possible meanings so that the reader has an integral picture in his head.
Dictionary
Yes, the meaning of a noun is difficult to establish immediately, but there is a verb. By the way, they are connected with each other not only by kinship, but also by semantic connections, because, according to the explanatory dictionary, the verb forms one facet of the meaning of the noun. But let's finally go directly to the possible values:
- Same as breaking off.
- A place where something has broken off.
- A rude, awkward person.
The third meaning of the word "bummer" is probably not widely known. And this is no accident, because it is vernacular, which means it is common only in some regions. However, it is not yet time to move on to examples, we need to reveal the semantic content of the verb “break off” so that the picture is complete. So, the meaning is as follows:
- Break off the edge, edges, ends of something.
- It is difficult to persuade, convince, and also break stubbornness, self-confidence.
The first meaning is direct, the second is figurative and, according to the dictionary, colloquial. The following are sample sentences:
- "Look, break the chocolate bar so that it remains beautiful: I hate sharp, sloppy edges!"
- "You ask, what will happen next? Then his life will break off, and I'm tired of fighting him."
- "Over there, we have a place for a bummer, Nikolai Petrovich, see? Well, well, send repairmen? Great!"
- “Listen, can you behave yourself or are you a bummer ?!”
Jargon, or When breaks fate
Of course, the slang meaning of the word is more interesting. But it seems to us that bummer is a definition that preserves the connection between slang and vocabulary. After all, if we understand it as a fatal or local failure, then our hopes and aspirations seem to be destroyed by fate itself or God. Another bummer is the state of mind after a failure. For example, a student passes an exam, learned only one ticket, but he was unlucky, and he did not pull out a familiar ticket. What is it? This is a bummer, both in objective reality, because failure has material evidence, and subjective: self-esteem falls, mood worsens, and desires disappear.
Synonyms for Slang
When the meaning of the word is not obvious, then it is worth supporting the understanding and sending him a group of logical replacements of the object of study to help. There will be few of them, since the focus is only on the slang concept. So the list is as follows:
- bad luck;
- failure;
- bad weather;
- misfire;
- evil rock.
Although "bummer" is jargon, its synonyms can be taken from different areas of the language. The first two positions are neutral in expression. The following definitions refer to jargon, and “evil rock” is high style.
In order not to break off, you need to stop hoping for free cheese
Yes, this is a very simple recipe, if a person does not want to be upset, he should rely only on himself. Not on God, circumstances, fate, mood of the boss or examiner. Relying only on yourself is the main rule. And then the ubiquitous bad luck will leave our lives. But a person tends to get tired, he still wants to, voluntarily or involuntarily, gifts from fate. Waiting for a miracle is normal, just do not hope too much. The miracle should be a nice bonus, and not the only way to resolve the problem. We think the reader understands the benefits that open to him. After all, if there is no hope, then there is no disappointment. The mood is almost always normal, everything is fine. In some situations, hope helps, in others it interferes. In general, support is good, but sometimes it causes atrophy of the leg muscles. I want to believe that the reader understood this simple metaphor.