bumpf

n

British

information on paper; forms, instruc-tions, brochures, etc., especially those considered unnecessary, annoying or in excessive quantity. This term is now an acceptable middle-class colloquialism although its origin is more vulgar. It derives from 'bum fodder', a pre-World War II public-school and armed-forces term for toilet paper. This was applied scornfully in wartime to excessive bureaucratic paperwork. In Australia the usage is sometimes extended to mean unnecessary or verbose speech. The phrase 'bum fodder' in full is now obsolete, but was used from the 17th century to refer to waste paper.

► A glimpse of the unpestered life you lead at Cap Ferrat, deluged with fan mail, be-sieged by the press, inundated with bumpf of one sort or another.' (Ian Fleming in a letter to Somerset Maugham, quoted in John Pearson's bi-ography, 1966)