# Did "trump" really mean "fart" in British slang, pre-Trump? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [September 25, 2023, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672 "2023-09-25T12:20:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/1 "2023-09-25T12:20:13Z")
Someone with an OED of Slang, if there is one, could probably answer this one, or some Brit with a long memory could take a shot at it, but I was told that the word “trump” (noun and verb) was used in British slang as a synonym for “fart” even before Donald Trump became known to the public, ca. 1970 or so. Is this true? Can anyone show me a citation or three of this usage? It seems a bit too juicy to be perfectly true. ---
**Author:** ![Dandan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a87d85/32.png) [@Dandan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dandan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/2 "2023-09-25T13:03:53Z")
Juicy trump, I’m down with that. Dan ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/3 "2023-09-25T13:07:25Z")
Short answer: yes. Long answer: [Another Victim of Donald Trump: The Verb 'To Trump' - The Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2016/10/ave-atque-trumpe/505259/) > [@](#): > > A Latin translation guide from the 1550s gave _trump_ as a synonym for _crepo,_ which it defined like this: “ **Trump** or let a crackke, or fart.” (_Crepo_ also [means](http://archives.nd.edu/cgi-bin/wordz.pl?keyword=crepo) “to rumble,” “to resound,” and “to burst asunder,” in case you doubted what kind of _trump_ this was.) > [@](#): > > (The OED clarifies that _trump_ meant “to break wind audibly” more than 150 years before the King James translators began their work.) ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/4 "2023-09-25T13:11:48Z")
100% true. And still used by myself on occasion. Basically because a gentle fart sounds like a little trumpet. The sort of phrase you could use in front of grandma without getting too much of a clip round the ear. Not really sure how to find a cite or three for that! I’ll try and provide context on how you might use it. “Did you just trump” “No, my shoe just has a squeek” " I think my dog is ill. He’s been trumping all morning, my room smells of cabbages" ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/5 "2023-09-25T15:48:18Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > It seems a bit too juicy to be perfectly true. Wait till you look up [trumpery](https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_Critical_Pronouncing_Dictionary_and_Ex/PzVWAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22trumpery%22&pg=PT319) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/6 "2023-09-25T15:59:09Z")
Here’s a historical thesaurus that places it as early as 1425, although it doesn’t seem like you can drill down into the source. [https://ht.ac.uk/category/?type=search&qsearch=trump&page=1#id=25913](https://ht.ac.uk/category/?type=search&qsearch=trump&page=1#id=25913) ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/7 "2023-09-25T16:22:58Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > “Did you just trump” > “No, my shoe just has a squeek” I am not familiar with it (born London, 1960s). I would not have known what you meant by this. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/8 "2023-09-25T16:30:28Z")
Really? Wow. Maybe it’s regional. That would surprise me though. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/9 "2023-09-25T16:46:39Z")
I think it’s much harder to get a sense of who does _not_ know an expression. It pretty much requires that you use it yourself, and in circumstances were someone is likely to ask you what you meant by that. Whereas our sense of what expressions people _do_ use is informed by everything we hear. I’ve lived in the US for 20 years, and I was surprised to discover from the recent thread that “streets ahead” is completely unfamiliar to most Americans (and apparently even some Brits thinks it’s somewhat arcane). But I’ve discovered that with other British idioms too, including some that I know I use often - in retrospect people must have had no idea what I was talking about but didn’t ask. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/10 "2023-09-25T17:43:32Z")
This gives an entirely new meaning to the statement that at The End of The World we will hear The Last Trump. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/11 "2023-09-25T17:48:53Z")
I’m an American, and I knew the British meaning. I must have picked it up reading all those British kid lit books, although it doesn’t seem much like Edith Nesbit. Maybe Roald Dahl. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/12 "2023-09-25T17:52:34Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Maybe Roald Dahl. I’m a Roald Dahl nut, and I never ran across it in his work. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/13 "2023-09-25T17:59:24Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Here’s a historical thesaurus that places it as early as 1425, although it doesn’t seem like you can drill down into the source. > [https://ht.ac.uk/category/?type=search&qsearch=trump&page=1#id=25913](https://ht.ac.uk/category/?type=search&qsearch=trump&page=1#id=25913) That is based on the earliest reference in the _OED_, which is from Andrew of Wyntoun’s _Ðe orygynale cronykil of Scotland_ - ‘In publik placis ay fra þat day Scho was behynde þan trumpande ay; Sa wes scho schamyt in ilk steid’. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/14 "2023-09-25T19:26:40Z")
I think it is regional - I’ve not heard people use it down here in the south where I live, but I encountered it in the north. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/15 "2023-09-25T20:36:44Z")
_Viz_ magazine, that Bible of the North, has a character called Johnny Fartpants. Trump is among many of the words used to describe his shenanigans. ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/16 "2023-09-25T21:38:23Z")
Yep, I didn’t hear ‘trump’ (spoken, that is…) during my southern childhood, only when I later lived in Yorkshire. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/17 "2023-09-25T22:00:23Z")
“Trumping” is a childish version of “farting”. Fart was generally considered slightly rude. so trump was an acceptable euphonism for children. Obviously it relates to the sound of breaking wind ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2023, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/18 "2023-09-25T23:03:07Z")
I’m from the South and the use of Trump is familiar. We used to use the expression “a trouser trump.” TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/19 "2023-09-26T08:12:59Z")
I’ve heard it, but I wouldn’t say it’s particularly common slang. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2023, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672/20 "2023-09-26T08:45:02Z")
UK-based, 20+ years in the north 20+ years in the south. and the term is common enough all over in my experience and has been all my life (perhaps even more common a few decades ago) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-trump-really-mean-fart-in-british-slang-pre-trump/990672.md?page=2)