bumf

English

Etymology

Clipping of bumfodder.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bʌmf/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌmf

Noun

bumf (uncountable)

1. (derogatory) Useless papers; now especially official documents, standardized forms, sales and marketing print material, etc.
   • 2006: Quest, Richard, A Sour Taste in the Mouth, CNN.com, October 28, 2006

     And as for the limited warnings on documents and signs – we are so used to reading this bumf we fail to realise when they mean business.

   • 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, in The Economist‎^[1], volume 407, number 8837, page 74:

     In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%.

2. (British, Ireland, obsolete) Toilet paper.

Alternative forms

• bumph
• bumpfh
• bumpf

Translations

useless documents

• Czech: lejstra n pl
• French: paperasse (fr) f
• German: Papierkram (de) m

See also

• spam
• unsolicited commercial email (UCE)
• junk mail