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Disambiguous

I don't know where to add this, but "Bimbo" is also a Hispanic bread manufacturer (http://www.bimbo.com/). Estrellador* 20:58, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The word "bimbo"

It must have been in use in the early 20th century, based on the lyrics of this song from 1921, apparently written by Grant Clarke

http://www.turtleserviceslimited.org/mylittlebimbo.htm

The bit about "Italian language words of male gender" should be explained or deleted. Ghosts&empties 10:42, 9 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I have tried to clarify Plch 18:39, 17 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]
The detailed definition makes it clear that there are two meanings- unintelligent being the original and main definition, sexual promiscuity the more recent secondary meaning. But the introduction refers only to sexual promiscuity. This isn't correct, surely. Isn't it still the case that the word means an unintelligent person, primarily female - rather than a sexually promiscuous one? The latter characteristics often follows on from the first!203.184.41.226 (talk) 21:53, 10 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Original use of "bimbo"

According to http://local.aaca.org/bntc/slang/slang.htm the word "bimbo" originally meant "a tough guy" in the 1920s.Adamc55 01:38, 8 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I saw that too. As the Italian origin suggests, it surely must have originally been a term referring to guys. This is where we need to enlist the help of older men and women who can give us first-hand accountings of what these terms meant in different eras and locales. -- Blueguy 65.0.209.185 (talk) 13:16, 16 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I don't think the hypothesis of Italian origin is compatible with the current meaning. Bimbo = bambino means a little child in Italian, not a tough guy or a blonde girl with low IQ. Lebatsnok (talk) 11:27, 6 May 2016 (UTC)[reply]


The word Bimbo or Bimbom was once used to refer to a person like the popular European clowns and satirists Bim Bom who are best known for being assassinated on stage by a Bolshevik officer while joking about Bolsheviks dressed up as a Bolshevik clown. This gave rise to two interpretations of the word. One as a strong man of conviction who never flinched or wavered in his opinion even in the face of death or the ignorant fool who didn't know to shut up even when it would get him killed. The later was the most promulgated view promoted by the Russian propagandists of the revolution.

This could explain the reference to your girlfriend at the social event that gets you fired because she doesn't understand when to shut up or many other injections of Bimbo in modern culture.

Bim Bom may very well chosen his clown names from Italian derogatory terms or obscenity. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.91.11.212 (talk) 07:17, 10 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

When Mobsters referred to ignorant dangerous girlfriends that got their mod boyfriends arrested for talking too much, they were referring to the the clown Bimbom getting himself killed by not keeping quiet. Scottprovost (talk) 07:32, 10 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The movie Russian Revolution in Color depicts Bimbon getting assassinated. Scottprovost (talk) 07:37, 10 November 2011 (UTC)[reply]

--Bimbo is also Japanese for 'poor'. It might have arrived in the US lexicon via merchant sailors that visited Japanese ports and encountered 'working ladies' trying to make money, which would support the pejorative nature of the word when applied to women. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 138.163.0.44 (talk) 22:57, 31 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Polari?

I've removed the reference to Polari. Is there any evidence that the use of "bimbo" in English comes from Polari and not just Italian? It doesn't seem likely, considering the above reference and the large number of native Italian speakers in the U.S. in the early 20th C.--Pharos 09:05, 22 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Expansion

This article needs to get expanded. Does anyone have any ideas to make this article longer? --71.118.77.23 23:49, 12 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Who deleted the pics? 68.50.146.22 20:47, 10 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

In German

... "Bimbo" is a very rude word for a black person. Does this have a place here? Absurdistani (talk) —Preceding undated comment was added at 10:26, 3 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

A word for a black person: I agree;
"a very rude word for a black person": That depends.
Originally, it was a word that came from Africa, in the relatively short era of German colonization, which ended 1918 with WW I. Maybe it is an artificial word, like "massa" (which comes from an incorrect pronunciation of "master"); but I guess it is an original word from an African language, like "simba" (as in Simbabwe), meaning lion. "Bimbo" was a word for an African, brought from Africa, uttered by German colonists in an attitude of racial arrogance.
But for us young students in the Germany of the 1970ies, that was only an image of times long gone by, like a Turkish serail in which a sultan kept his harem; there was a bit of ashamedness for past centuries in it, but mostly it was kind of folkloristic. The word was mostly used in the connection "Bimbo-Fête", a party arranged by African students at the campus area or in student houses where students from all nations lived, with loud African music and feverish dancing, which the guys loved, and meeting white girls and dancing with them and dragging them into their beds, which they loved even more. So when we met in the group kitchen, there was no problem asking with a grin: "Hey Youssou, I heard your friends are going to make a bimbo-fête next weekend?": it was not meant hostile, though a bit teasing, but no more than when we called out: "Sabine, stop torturing that cat or we will call the police!" when our colleague Sabine was practicing to play the violin behind her closed appartment door. It was not at all PC; but you, too, have fun watching Al Bundy, don't you? And Youssou and the other black guys understood the way it was meant, grinned back, and did't mind. Such were things at our university; and I do think it was the same elsewhere.
So to cut a long story short: Meanings of words can change; and so did this one. Don't see things too stereotypically! - Wolfram from Germany

this is great —Preceding unsigned comment added by Menat22 (talk • contribs) 21:58, 15 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I know the meaning of "Bimbo" in German not only as a black person. Maybe this is just in Switzerland or just in the Region I grew up. Here a Bimbo is basically a slave. Not a strong word either, just a little joke or a sarcastic comment. It can be used for any skin color or gender but mostly refers to a younger, unexperienced and often innocent and overly friendly person who can not yet tell when others are just using him/her. For example a 16 year old apprentice can be sent to a store to buy things, therefore he is a Bimbo (Swiss-German word would also be Gang-Go, whch can be translated in English with go-do). Or for example when asking somebody to carry something unneccessarily heavy, the answer often is "I'm not your Bimbo". In relation to the original comment by Absurdistani, most likely the meaning of "slave" came from the time when black people (the Bimbos) actually were regarded as slaves. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.62.128.4 (talk) 21:05, 16 August 2011 (UTC) The IP is right. Here in Germany bimbo has 2 meanings. 1st a black african person 2nd someone who does everything for someone without getting something for it -> kinda slave-like. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.78.183.47 (talk) 17:21, 29 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Word not known in Britain in 1927

I have no idea whether this is should be incorporated into the article, but in Bimbo we have a rare example of a word being used precisely because it has no known meaning. The reference is from one of A.P. Herbert's 'Misleading Cases': Uncommon Law, Trott v Tulip: Is 'Highbrow' Libellous, 8, pp42-52.

... one man might say to another, 'You are a Bimbo', or 'You look like a Togg', without offence; for these expressions, though presumably hostile in intention, have no known significance, discourteous or otherwise.

This would originally have been published in Punch but I cannot find a record of the date. However in a postscript to the Uncommon Law chapter above, the author states "This case was heard in 1927", and it certainly is no later than that as it appears in Misleading Cases in the Common Law published by Methuen in 1927.--Zipperdeedoodah (talk) 20:49, 12 September 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Merge suggestion Bimbo + Dumb blonde

  • oppose - almost no overlap. Diffferent term history, different content, etc. Wikipedia is not paper; noi need to put all eggs in one basket. - Altenmann >t 16:59, 15 December 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Article References

I'll try and improve this article over the next few days. The links below will eventually be incorperated into the article as information and references. Feel free to add! --Acluke (talk) 02:32, 23 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1288045/Why-bimbos-like-late-Anna-Nicole-Smith-cleverer-seem.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Bimbofication

The following was removed due to lack of reliable sources. If you find such a source, please reinclude it. Thanks!

Bimbofication The term "Bimbofication" or "Bimboization" is used to refer to the process of a person acquring the physical or mental traits that are typically associated with a bimbo. This can refer to a person's consious decision or through a percieved change in their actions and personality. Bimbofication can also refer to going through surgery in order to atain traits often associated with the stereotypical bimbo, regardless of their intent, such as "breast enlargement". Acluke (talk) 06:06, 23 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Notable Bimbos

If anyone can think of any fictional or real-life bimbos, preferably with references to them being referred to as such, please feel free to add them to the popular culture/notable bimbos section. Thanks! Acluke (talk) 00:19, 24 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Inaccurate to say not pejorative

I intend to change this sentence from the opening: “The term itself is not explicitly negative, but can be used as a derogative insult towards a woman.”

The notion that the term “bimbo” is not pejorative is absurd. As the article explains the word refers to a person who attractive yet stupid. It has never been a compliment, or a “neutral” to call someone stupid.

In recent years some younger people have taken to using the word ironically, especially when referring to themselves, similarly as has been done with the words like “bitch,” “slut,” etc. This Feminist subversion of words that denigrate behavior by females that traditionally goes uncriticized in males may be a cheeky slap at cultural stereotypes and outmoded gender roles, but it does not amount to a reclassification of a word is still a pejorative and used as such in standard speech.

Indeed such ironic use rarely results in shedding of original meaning. For instance “fag” and “nigger” have long been used in this manner, but no one would suggest that they are “not explicitly negative.” That someone would say such a thing in this case is itself a matter of gender bias.TheCormac (talk) 21:14, 8 April 2011 (UTC)[reply]

==Laverne and Shirley== This show should be mentioned for it's common usage of the word "bimbo" and the running gag of Laverne getting angry to the point of attempting violence at being called one.

Split?

Surely this article is a candidate for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:CONSPLIT#Content_split? I would think this page should deal with the "attractive but unintelligent..." and some of the other uses (e.g. Nigerian name) should be moved to the disambiguation page? Not sure how to start a vote though, I'm afraid. --81.23.54.142 (talk) 18:24, 29 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

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Definition for the WP:Lead sentence

As seen here, here and here, IP 93.36.190.141 has repeatedly violated WP:Undue weight by having the lead sentence state that "bimbo" means child. That meaning is not the common definition of the word and does not belong as the first sentence. The History section covers origins of the term already.

Thoughts? I'll alert WP:WikiProject Languages, WP:Women and WP:Women's History to the matter for discussion. Flyer22 Reborn (talk) 15:52, 4 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

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