Is anyone else annoyed by the recurrent newish phrase “baby bump” to refer to a pregnancy, especially involving a celebrity starlet?
Having been pregnant, I have to say it’s a lot more than a bump. And the phrase “baby bump” puts me in mind of “rubber baby buggy bumpers.”
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Previously a lifelong Democrat, born in New York and living in New England, surrounded by liberals on all sides, I've found myself slowly but surely 
August 11th, 2010 at 4:55 pm
Everythings is so crass today. I especially dislike the skin tight clothes worn to show off the “baby bump”. These trends are started by celebrities who think they are the only ones in the world who ever got pregnant.
Speaking of crass people I did little video on Michelle’s trip to the MD State House based on a WaPo story that has to be read to be believed. The story hasn’t received much publicity. Clicking on my name will take you to it.
August 11th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
I’m pretty much offended by anything that has happened since about 1973. But then I’m old and reserve the right to be crochety.
August 11th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Yes, yes, yes. Both “baby bump” and the skin-tight clothing make me cringe. This thread is actually highly relevant because there’s a woman in my office who is in her 20s and eight months pregnant.
Look, I’m not exactly a senior member of the Taliban, but whatever happened to maternity dresses?
August 11th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
Then, there are the charming corresponding terms “lady lumps” i.e. breasts, found in some current day lyrics by the Black Eyed Peas, in which are are also found the term “humps,” which I presume means behind.
August 11th, 2010 at 6:05 pm
YES.
August 11th, 2010 at 6:10 pm
Yes, it’s crass and tasteless. Not that long ago, it would have been considered simply rude and vulgar to even comment on a pregnant woman’s shape. Are they now publishing photos and comments about the same celebrities milk-enlarged breasts in the weeks after giving birth? It’s only a matter of time.
August 11th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
What I hate is when pregnant women wear regular clothes and let their underbelly hang out in the open air. Heck, I hate it when non-pregnant women do that too. Double heck, I hate it when men with beer bellies do that. Ahh, nothing like a little subcutaneous adipose tissue to start your week off right.
August 11th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
Ive seen this phrase in one or more British online articles for awhile- and detested it. ( I bet if you search Neo- you will find it in earlier articles across the pond)-So if the American press is starting to pick it up -oh no!
August 11th, 2010 at 10:15 pm
As I remember, it’s “rugged rubber baby buggy bumpers”.
August 11th, 2010 at 10:50 pm
“I hate it when men with beer bellies do that.”
Sadly many men have little to no choice.
Fashion makers today seem to assume one size and if you aren’t that – then oh well. There are only two types of clothes that do not expose the bottom of my stomach – ones that are so long it looks like I’m wearing a hospital gown or custom tailored shorts.
It’s not really that my stomach hangs down (it does a little, but this plagued me well before it had any sag) but that the make the lengths on the shirts either for “normal” or freakishly tall. As big a round as I am and as much extra surface area the shirt has to cover the fronts often do not even go to the waist line new, let along after a few washings (and I *never* machine dry my clothes – might as well throw them away after a few washings).
I can’t even really go with the ones for freakishly tall people either – the sleeves are lengthened for them so “short sleeves” go down to my elbows. I can’t afford many custom tailored shirts – cheapest I have found are in the 150-175 range and have to be dry cleaned. I have a couple for demo’s with big clients.
So ultimately I end up with a mix of hospital gown types, ones where I have to watch where I put my arms, and ones only for around the house or yard work. I do sometimes luck up in the big and tall shop that some company makes one that fits me and I purchase all of them I can, but last time all they had was pastel orange, lime green, and white – none of which I could wear at work because of color (too many also have my problem and the sell out as fast as they rarely get them).
Don’t get me started on trying to find pants that do not expose my crack if I do anything other than stand straight up either. Belts help, but the pants actually *pull* down because of how the fit on my hips/thighs and you can’t get a belt tight enough nor can I get a shirt that fits well enough to hide it either.
Some people do that out of not caring, some can’t do it for less than 500 or so for a custom tailored set of clothes. The tailor made the comment when measuring me “I guess I have a customer for life”.
August 11th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
I would complain about it, but I have been using more quaint terms for my daughter’s pregnancy;
In the family way.
With child
Heavy with child.
Anticipating motherhood.
Mother to be.
It eases the ick factor of our loathsome linguistically vile culture.
August 12th, 2010 at 3:51 am
Wha…. Wha…. What?!?!
.
But I thought for decades we had been told “They are not babies, they are fetuses!”
.
How can you have a “baby bump” without a “baby”?
I am so confused.
August 12th, 2010 at 5:33 am
I dislike that term a lot. I was driving through a nearby town and there was a sign outside a house with the phrase, “Nancy’s bump”. It took me a minute to figure out what it meant. After that I thought, Wow; How ungrammatical. My next reaction was, Why does everyone passing by need to know this news?
August 12th, 2010 at 11:53 am
Speed bump, baby bump. This implies that a baby is an impediment to one’s life, the same way a speed bump is an impediment to one’s driving.
Count me as an old fogey who dislikes the term.
August 12th, 2010 at 1:05 pm
I dislike that phrase too. It seems crass and tasteless to me. It’s not a “bump,” it’s a pregnancy.
August 12th, 2010 at 3:44 pm
Very unpleasant expression. But then I find many expressions unpleasant, and more so – weird.
Re: tight clothes: just yesterday was reading an acquaintance’ blog – she’s a young woman, living with her husband in Britain, and pregnant. She was complaining how horrible are the clothes one shops for in maternity stores, how unsightly and ill-fitting.
And she said she dislike “sack” clothes and rather will wear tight dress than a shapeless roach-colored garment.
“For some reason, manufacturers think they have to camouflage us, pregnant uglies, in huge-volume of folds – maybe they think being pregnant is something to be ashamed of. I refuse to be put in Western equivalent of burqah!”
I have to say, she makes sense.
August 12th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
I’m not terribly offended by MOST modern maternity wear (never a fan of the muu-muu, whether for temporary or chronic use, as there are more attractive alternatives), but I saw a reality show bride recently who, at least 6mo along, wore a MERMAID style wedding gown and 4″ heels. That’s not only silly-looking, it’s dangerous!
August 14th, 2010 at 1:47 am
Are they now publishing photos and comments about the same celebrities milk-enlarged breasts in the weeks after giving birth? It’s only a matter of time.
Doc, you are SO far behind the times! When Uma Thurman showed up at the Oscars several years ago, recently delivered and obviously breastfeeding (very generous embonpoint!) the commentators all made smirking, snarky remarks about her enlarged bosom and her “lucky husband.”