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View Full Version : What does *bamf* mean?

Anaamika
10-06-2004, 09:06 AM
I thought I was pretty 'Net savvy, but this is a new one.

At first I thought it was a drumroll, or cymbals, like after a joke. But it's used in place where nothing is funny.

I've asked occasionally but no one answers me. Come on, 'fess up. I know the secret about Cecil now, I've got over 600 posts, I'm part of the group! Please tell!

*bamf*
CandidGamera
10-06-2004, 09:09 AM
X-Men reference. It's the sound-effect of Nightcrawler's teleportation.
bittersweet
10-06-2004, 09:09 AM
You're not alone. I have no idea what it means either.

:confused:
CandidGamera
10-06-2004, 09:13 AM
To clarify, people use it to finish their posts, as if to give you the visual of them having spoken about something, then teleporting away in the manner of Nightcrawler.

It's a neat bit of comic-inspired onomatopoeia, actually - 'bamfing' having become synonymous, in some circles, with 'teleporting'.

The origin is the X-Men comics, not the movies. From an era when comics included cheesy, odd sound effects.

The sound of Wolverine's claws being extended, for instance, is 'snikt'.
Roland Orzabal
10-06-2004, 09:18 AM
The sound of Wolverine's claws being extended, for instance, is 'snikt'.

This is correct. It is 'snikt', and ONLY 'snikt'. All who would attempt to use a cheesy B-movie metal-against-metal "schiiiiiiinnnnng" must answer to the very claws they desecrate. Even though the metal-on-metal probably makes more sense, since it's adamantium sliding across adamatium. I don't care. The sound is 'snikt'.

*bamf*
Debaser
10-06-2004, 09:48 AM
From an era when comics included cheesy, odd sound effects.


You mean they don't do this anymore! :(
CandidGamera
10-06-2004, 09:51 AM
You mean they don't do this anymore! :(

No, sadly, sometime along the path to the grittier, more realistic comics of today, the sound-effects fell discarded by the wayside, relegated to use only in humorous books. Oh, sure, you'll still see one sometimes, but not very often.
Enola Straight
10-06-2004, 10:09 AM
Also, on props associated with Samuel L. Jackson, i.e. his lightsaber in the Star Wars prequels (though you can't se ti) and on the wallet in Pulp Fiction.

It stands for:

Bad-*ss Motherf*cker ;)
Anaamika
10-06-2004, 11:00 AM
Ok I get it now. It's kind of silly though, I mean teleporting away after a post? Why? What's the point?
CandidGamera
10-06-2004, 11:13 AM
Ok I get it now. It's kind of silly though, I mean teleporting away after a post? Why? What's the point?

It's just a kind of reference. If I ended every post with "And that's the way it is." - am I trying to assert that all of the preceding was indisputable fact? Heck, no. It's just that I'm making reference to Cronkite's famous news sign-off. Maybe I'm a Cronkite fan (a Cronkiteite?), or the like - the reference means something to me, but not necessarily to the audience.

I've seen the bamf thing only with one poster that I specifically recall - Shirt Ninja 13 - I believe that's the tag - and in that case, I can see the "bamf" being extending to the classic Ninja disappearing act - IE , throwing down a smoke bomb and disappearing.
Anaamika
10-06-2004, 01:40 PM
Oh, I'm not saying people shouldn't do it, if they feel like.

I just think it's silly. But at least the Ninja thing I can see.
CandidGamera
10-06-2004, 01:44 PM
Oh, I'm not saying people shouldn't do it, if they feel like.

I just think it's silly. But at least the Ninja thing I can see.

Well, I was just trying to answer the 'Why' question there.
Anaamika
10-06-2004, 02:38 PM
Well, I was just trying to answer the 'Why' question there.

Thank you, I appreciate that. :)
C K Dexter Haven
10-06-2004, 02:57 PM
I allus thunk that Bamf was a city in Canada, near Calgary, all fulla mountains and skis and such...?
Chairman Pow
10-06-2004, 08:17 PM
No, sadly, sometime along the path to the grittier, more realistic comics of today, the sound-effects fell discarded by the wayside, relegated to use only in humorous books. Oh, sure, you'll still see one sometimes, but not very often.

Hey, stop by us indie comics some time, we still use them!
Kythereia
10-06-2004, 08:24 PM
I allus thunk that Bamf was a city in Canada, near Calgary, all fulla mountains and skis and such...?

Close, but no cigar, Dex--it's Banff, Calgary (http://www.discoverbanff.com/). ;)
Exapno Mapcase
10-06-2004, 08:52 PM
Kythereia, I'm afraid someone will now have to explain "whooshed" to you.
Kythereia
10-06-2004, 09:00 PM
...I knew it. :(
CandidGamera
10-06-2004, 09:16 PM
Hey, stop by us indie comics some time, we still use them!

You know what's funny? After writing all this today, I pick up my comics this evening, and look at the new Conan One-Shot - and it's got the silly sound effects!

Pfft. Everything old is new again. Whipper-snappers.
Telperien
10-06-2004, 09:19 PM
Poor dear. :: pats Kythereia on the shoulder::

One thing I love about the Straight Dope is that I hardly ever have to ask my own question. If I wait long enough, some intrepid Doper asks for me.
Kythereia
10-06-2004, 09:26 PM
That's what I love about it, too ;)
elbows
10-06-2004, 10:38 PM
That would be...

Banff, Alberta

(Calgary being a near by-ish large city, whereas Alberta is the actual province wherein lovely Banff is located.)

Thank you very much....
Quint
10-07-2004, 12:26 AM
That would be...

Banff, Alberta

(Calgary being a near by-ish large city, whereas Alberta is the actual province wherein lovely Banff is located.)

Thank you very much....
Is that near to where the legendary anti- flatulence festival is held every summer? My wife keeps threatening to take us to the "Ban Farts Festival". What kind of a town has a festival like that?
C K Dexter Haven
10-07-2004, 07:28 AM
Calgary being a near by-ish large city
... famous for being the city where Jesus was crucified. And also for being the city where soldiers first got on horses to create a mounted armed group, very effective in warfare and useful in movies and TV shows about the Old West.




Yes, I know, it's deliberate. I'd hate anyone else to be whooshed by my meagre punmanship.
Anaamika
10-07-2004, 08:48 AM
... famous for being the city where Jesus was crucified. And also for being the city where soldiers first got on horses to create a mounted armed group, very effective in warfare and useful in movies and TV shows about the Old West.


Yes, I know, it's deliberate. I'd hate anyone else to be whooshed by my meagre punmanship.

My Og, Dex you are sharp wit this early in the morning. Or is it late where you are?
Ukulele Ike
10-07-2004, 10:02 AM
Even though the metal-on-metal probably makes more sense, since it's adamantium sliding across adamatium. I don't care. The sound is 'snikt'.
Is it "snikt" because the claws are locking into position? It would be pretty embarrassing if Wolverine was slicing up a pineapple or something for a breakfast buffet and the claws slid back under his knuckles.
Yllaria
10-07-2004, 11:17 AM
A Ban Farts Festival? Do they get protesters picketing them? I could see some of my relatives on the picket line as a joke. If I made the mistake of thinking about it, I could almost guess what was on the signs.




*bamf*
Troy McClure SF
10-07-2004, 12:22 PM
Don Martin would be proud.
Shirt Ninja 13
10-09-2004, 11:34 PM
Oh, I'm not saying people shouldn't do it, if they feel like.

I just think it's silly. But at least the Ninja thing I can see.

Well yeah, it *is* silly. That's kind of the point, tho'.

That said, I'm curious: who else is doing this? I was under the impression that I was the only one.

I like the idea of it being a "Ninja thing". I think I'd like to get that put on a shirt: "It's a Ninja thing." :)

Would it confuse people if I said it was originally a Darkwing Duck thing?

*bamf*
WotNot
10-10-2004, 03:23 AM
Would it confuse people if I said it was originally a Darkwing Duck thing?

Yes it would. Don’t do that.
Cliffy
10-11-2004, 11:53 AM
By the way, the sound of Spider-Man shooting his webbing is "thwip!" I don't believe there are any other comics sound effects as well-standardized as these three.

--Cliffy
Beltane
10-11-2004, 12:20 PM
Didn't Starfire's Starbolts used to always make a "Skreeeeeee" Sound? Or amI thinking of some other hero? I have been trying to think of other standardized effects and coming up blank.
Jonathan Chance
10-11-2004, 03:05 PM
By the way, the sound of Spider-Man shooting his webbing is "thwip!" I don't believe there are any other comics sound effects as well-standardized as these three.

--Cliffy

Dave Sim in Cerebus. Anything appearing or disappearing made the sound effect: Poit!
C K Dexter Haven
10-11-2004, 03:55 PM
Don Martin had wonderful sound effects, I think he first came up with "Poit!"
samclem
10-11-2004, 06:58 PM
Don Martin had wonderful sound effects, I think he first came up with "Poit!"

http://www.collectmad.com/madcoversite/dmd-bydate.html

January, 1960.
C K Dexter Haven
10-11-2004, 07:28 PM
Sam, I think I'm completely speechless.
samclem
10-11-2004, 07:44 PM
Sam, I think I'm completely speechless.
The fact that you and I are about the same age, and that you remembered that off the top of your head, leaves me speechless. :eek:

...much like Don Martin's characters........ :D
Quint
10-11-2004, 07:46 PM
This is correct. It is 'snikt', and ONLY 'snikt'. All who would attempt to use a cheesy B-movie metal-against-metal "schiiiiiiinnnnng" must answer to the very claws they desecrate. Even though the metal-on-metal probably makes more sense, since it's adamantium sliding across adamatium. I don't care. The sound is 'snikt'.
I wonder if these claws bear any relation to the vorpal blade, which went "snicker-snack!" Maybe, being much smaller, the vorpal claws go 'snikt'?
EddyTeddyFreddy
10-11-2004, 07:47 PM
http://www.collectmad.com/madcoversite/dmd-bydate.html

January, 1960. Further proof (if such be needed) that the man was a comic genius.

And that some of his fans really need to stay on their OCD meds.

*thwap*
Askia
10-11-2004, 07:47 PM
By the way, the sound of Spider-Man shooting his webbing is "thwip!" I don't believe there are any other comics sound effects as well-standardized as these three.

--Cliffy

Boom Tubes go, BOOM.
Mother Boxes go, ping ping ping ping ping
Jimmy Olsen's signal watch goes zee zee zee zee zee
Cliffy
10-12-2004, 03:59 PM
OK, I give you zee zee zee, but the other ones are just extrapolations from previously-existing onomotopaeia, which I don't think are the same thing.

--Cliffy
Lute Skywatcher
10-12-2004, 05:15 PM
http://www.collectmad.com/madcoversite/dmd-bydate.html

January, 1960.I'm partial to "Woman Using Typwriter" (MAD #119. Jun 68, Page 48).

Hmm...I just noticed that list is missing "PAF" for the sound of a balloon popped by a boy wielding a peashooter.
Lute Skywatcher
10-12-2004, 05:18 PM
Actually, I don't see a listing for any of his Inside Front Cover strips.
Lute Skywatcher
10-12-2004, 07:56 PM
My mistake, they do have the Inside Front Covers. I missed them with the Find box.

They are indeed missing the one I was thinking of: "One Day in the Park" (MAD #137, Sep 1970, Back Cover).
Roland Orzabal
10-12-2004, 08:10 PM
You people are sad. Comics aren't worth all the time, trouble and dedication you put into them. Memorizing sound effects, making huge indexes of individual artists' onomotopaeic decisions...geez.

Obviously, the better option would be to devote yourself to Cowboy Bebop. Then you only have to deal with "bang". :D

For the irony-impaired, the first paragraph was a joke. I like comics too. Don't hurt me.
Anaamika
10-13-2004, 09:30 AM
You people are sad. Comics aren't worth all the time, trouble and dedication you put into them. Memorizing sound effects, making huge indexes of individual artists' onomotopaeic decisions...geez.

Obviously, the better option would be to devote yourself to Cowboy Bebop. Then you only have to deal with "bang". :D

For the irony-impaired, the first paragraph was a joke. I like comics too. Don't hurt me.

Get the torches!