# Fat Bottomed Girls **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 15, 2009, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506 "2009-08-15T09:45:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Deflagration](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ab097/32.png) [@Deflagration](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deflagration)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 9:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/1 "2009-08-15T09:45:24Z")
I’m fighting with a memory (perhaps imagined) that there is a word that expresses the title of this OP. I’m thinking “bathyculpus” but google concludes that this is a delusion. 1. What is the real word. 2. What (if anything) does my word mean (perhaps Boobs?). 3. Hi Opal. ---
**Author:** ![PrettyVacant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/49beb7/32.png) [@PrettyVacant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PrettyVacant)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 10:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/2 "2009-08-15T10:02:29Z")
Slaptastic? Sweatylicious? ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/3 "2009-08-15T10:06:45Z")
Steatopygous. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/4 "2009-08-15T10:08:40Z")
> [@hibernicus](#): > > Steatopygous. While this is correct for the exact meaning of the title a similar word you may have heard is **callipygian** , which means having a shapely or perfectly proportioned buttocks. ---
**Author:** ![Anaglyph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/5 "2009-08-15T10:14:52Z")
The word you are looking for is “steatopygian” [steatopygia](http://www.answers.com/topic/steatopygia) - An extreme accumulation of fat on the buttocks. The prefix “[bathy](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bathy-)-” or “batho-” refers to depth, [From Greek bathus, deep, and from Greek bathos, depth (from bathus).] e.g. bathysphere for deep-sea ---
**Author:** ![Deflagration](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3ab097/32.png) [@Deflagration](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deflagration)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/6 "2009-08-15T10:54:03Z")
Thank you **Jragon** ‘callipygian’ is ringing a lot of bells for me. Are there other ‘forms’ of this word? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/7 "2009-08-15T15:22:59Z")
Its been a long long time since I opened up a playboy magazine, but now and then they would show a page an artist’s rendition of frollicking fat bottomed girls who were referred to by the name of the original artist. Memory is quite vague at this point but the word used sounded something like “brogdollian”. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/8 "2009-08-15T15:49:59Z")
All I know is that they make the rocking world go round. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/9 "2009-08-15T16:13:32Z")
[Steatopygia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steatopygia) is not what you’re looking for here. It’s a specialized adaptation of females of the Khoi-San peoples (“Hottentots” and “Bushmen”) which is **not** shared by either White (“Caucasoid”) or Black (“Negroid”/"Congoid’) people. In both the latter peoples, typically excess adipose tissue is deposited preferentially in _pads_, producing a large but ‘normal-shaped’ set of buttocks. The Khoi-San, in contrast (along with Pygmies and Andamanese, who probably share ancestry in part with the Khoi-San), exhibit the sort of growth depicted at the link. I recall a reference noting that one Khoi-San woman could carry a full glass of water by setting it atop her buttocks. “Callipygia” does mean the condition of having attractive buttocks – and of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/10 "2009-08-15T19:26:44Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > Its been a long long time since I opened up a playboy magazine Were you just a skinny lad? ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/11 "2009-08-15T19:36:51Z")
> [@Deflagration](#): > > 1. Hi Opal. … nevermind. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/12 "2009-08-15T20:55:09Z")
It’s bizarre - right after I read this thread, I read an article on Slate that used “callipygian”, a word of which I was previously ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![Harry1945](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e47c2d/32.png) [@Harry1945](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harry1945)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/13 "2009-08-16T00:38:44Z")
[This link](http://www.amazon.com/Two-Classic-Albums-Limeliters-Slightly/dp/B00000395T) goes to an Amazon page that includes a song called “Vikki Dougan” by the 60’s folk group The Limeliters. One of the lines in that song refers to her “…callipygian cleft.” ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2009, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/14 "2009-08-16T06:30:20Z")
Spider Robinson, who publicized “callipygian,” also offered up the technical geological term “spathic,” which means “having good cleavage.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![donuts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/94ad74/32.png) [@donuts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/donuts)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/15 "2009-08-17T14:56:38Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Spider Robinson, who publicized “callipygian,” also offered up the technical geological term “spathic,” which means “having good cleavage.” 🙂 If ever there was a redundant statement, this is it. There are 2 types of cleavage… “Not enough” and “Good” ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/16 "2009-08-17T14:59:47Z")
Hmmm. I was unaware of which of these words were right for the situation. Errr. I mean… _NEVER KNEW NO GOOD FROM BAD_ ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/17 "2009-08-17T15:22:15Z")
> [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](#): > > Its been a long long time since I opened up a playboy magazine, but now and then they would show a page an artist’s rendition of frollicking fat bottomed girls who were referred to by the name of the original artist. > > Memory is quite vague at this point but the word used sounded something like “brogdollian”. Brobdingnagian? Originally from [Gulliver’s Travels](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brobdingnag). ---
**Author:** ![Juliette\_Culture\_Junkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5fc32e/32.png) [@Juliette\_Culture\_Junkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juliette_Culture_Junkie)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/18 "2009-08-17T17:44:46Z")
> [@](#): > > Originally posted by **Deflagration** > _I’m thinking “bathyculpus” but google concludes that this is a delusion._ Are you thinking of “bathycolpian”, which means deep-bosomed? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19adc/32.png) [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Am_The_Lorax)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/19 "2009-08-17T17:53:50Z")
Cacopygian (sp?) is the opposite of callipygian. It means ugly butt. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2009, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506/20 "2009-08-17T20:26:53Z")
I don’t think _callipygian_ is right. That is from the Greek for “beautiful buttocks”, which does not necessarily convey the message of “overly-sized buttocks”. YMMV. As for _steatopygia_, I have been educated. (Um, er, ewww.) That definitely fits the definition of “fat-bottomed girl”, though perhaps not the most common experience most people have. I suppose _Brobdingnagian_ could be used that way, though only metaphorically. Brobdingnag was a land of giants, people “as tall as a church steeple”. I don’t recall anything in the descriptions suggestive of their shapes rather than just their general size disparity. Same way Lilliputians were tiny people. But someone might wish to describe a woman of ample size as “Brobdingnagian” as a metaphor. _Bathycolpian_ shows up as an obscure word. Searching “bathycolpian definition” doesn’t turn up standard dictionary entries, but rather as secondary references in more obscure definition discussions. So that could help explain why “bathyculpus” was ineffective. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fat-bottomed-girls/506506.md?page=2)