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What is the origin and meaning of the term "Butt Buddies"?



Today, in the midst of chatting on other SE sites, the term "bum buddies" was used. Some other users took this to be offensive, saying that it was just a slightly less egregious version of "butt buddies". I was not offended by the term, but others informed me that it has homosexual connotations.


I always remember using the term to refer to close friends, almost as a synonym of "bosom buddies".


Can someone guide as the correct usage (so I can avoid using inappropriate terms in the future)? If there is any history on the term that could be useful as well, please include it.



Answer



According to NGram Viewer, this is a new term first gaining some prominence in the late 1980's. It would seem to mean based on what I can find, to reference a male homosexual relationship of some varying level of intimacy. However, its usage seems to be that the speaker is simply implying that two things or people appear to be highly bonded, so much so, that tongue-in-cheek, they appear to be lovers.


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I see a reference to it in "Phrack Magazine" from 1993 in a suggestive, but not literal homosexual way "The software already present on the MCU is all that is needed, the interface need only support certain emulations (see Operation Procedures.) (hmmm... Could Radio Shack and Northern Telecom be butt buddies?)". It's not clear otherwise how the author intended the usage.


It appears in "ATTITUDE" #48 April 1998, but I don't have this magazine and cannot give you the exact quote. Since this is a men's gay magazine, it appears to be in reference to homosexuality, and maybe specifically male homosexuality.


The term 'bum buddies' appears to have been in usage about 10 years earlier and becoming more ubiquitous during the 80's and 90's before being abandoned in the mid 1990's in favor of 'butt buddies'.


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