Bumfodder

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Paper or other material used for wiping after defecation ; printed material considered trashy, worthless or fit only for disposal
2. Coarse paper used in place of toilet tissue ; any writing or publication regarded as trivial, rubbish or good for nothing
3. Rough sheets employed to clean oneself in a lavatory ; cheap, worthless printed matter that is little better than waste

Etymology: "Bumfodder" is a compound of two plain English words: "bum," the informal word for the buttocks, and "fodder," which in its older sense meant coarse food or feed for livestock. Put together, the pair describes material used for wiping, and the image is blunt in the way much old slang is. The word's humour comes from the joining of a body part with a word for animal feed, a pairing that suggests the material is no more refined than fodder. "Fodder" itself has long been used figuratively for raw material that gets used up or consumed, as in "cannon fodder," which makes the compound's logic clear: the item is something that serves a rough, unglamorous purpose.

Synonyms: toilet paper, bumf