Quote:
Originally Posted by Aashenfox
I had never heard anyone say 'bimmer' until I joined this forum. In the rest of the world, it's beamer. It's an American thing, nothing to do with bikes. How u guys adopted this is beyond me because of the way the acronym is spoken. You don't say 'Bi (as in bimmer or biscuit) Em DoubleU', you say ' BEE Em DoubleU', as in bee or beam, hence BEAMer, not BIMmer, which doesn't make sense. Anyway...
I own a beamer, bimmers is what they has in 'Murica...  |
Try again, BSA were British bikes, beamers were their German counterpart. You should probably look into the derivation before you go talking down to people, especially when you are wrong.
The etymology of the bike thing is pretty easy post WWII, BMW was primarily known as a motorcycle manufacturer, and one of the marque's main opponents on the track was BSA, whose bikes were colloquially known as "Beesers" (or, as we see it in American cycle rags, "Beazers"). "Beemer" was simply a similar nickname attached to the Bavarian bikes to achieve some sort of friendly parity with the machines from Sheffield.