Not "bimmer",not "beemer" It's B-M-W

[wool]

I lost the thread from an earlier post, but I wanted to add my 2 cents.
Bimmer was a term coined by the yuppies to create a higher level of
snobery. I think they also made "Nannies" and "Starbucks" icons of there self indulgent wealth. These yuppies with there selfish self centered ways created
the image we BMW drivers have to deal with on the road each day.

[MarkD]

I lost the thread from an earlier post, but I wanted to add my 2 cents.
Bimmer was a term coined by the yuppies to create a higher level of
snobery. I think they also made "Nannies" and "Starbucks" icons of there self indulgent wealth. These yuppies with there selfish self centered ways created
the image we BMW drivers have to deal with on the road each day.

I think a "beamer" is what happened to Janet J. at the Superbowl.

[BigD]

I think the real reason is it's just easier to say. North American English is a simplified version of the original (when was the last time you said "trousers") so why should brand names be immune (when was the last time you said "Chevrolet"). And no one here is going to tell me that status had nothing to do with their brand choice and have me believe them.

I lost the thread from an earlier post, but I wanted to add my 2 cents.
Bimmer was a term coined by the yuppies to create a higher level of
snobery. I think they also made "Nannies" and "Starbucks" icons of there self indulgent wealth. These yuppies with there selfish self centered ways created
the image we BMW drivers have to deal with on the road each day.

[gordon]

Not sure which E34 you drive...but my first time driving a 535i 5 speed sold me... if it had been a "chevy" Chevette and pulled like that i would have scooped it up without a thought.....the fact that it was a BMW was just a bonus.

[MarkD]

And no one here is going to tell me that status had nothing to do with their brand choice and have me believe them.

Why would you say that? I bought my first BMW in 1978, and they weren't known as status enhancers then. I bought it because I knew it was an interesting example of German engineering. If I was owning BMW's for status, I wouldn't be driving a 733i for 16 years before getting the M5.

Here's a story you have probably heard:

On the farm lived a chicken and a horse, both of whom loved to play together. One day, the two were playing when the horse fell into a bog and began to sink. Scared for his life, the horse whinnied for the chicken to go get the farmer for help!

Off the chicken ran, back to the farm. Arriving at the farm, he searched and searched for the farmer, but to no avail, for he had gone to town with the only tractor. Running around, the chicken spied the farmer's new Z-3 series BMW. Finding the keys inside, the chicken sped off with a length of rope, hoping he still had time to save his friend's life.

Back at the bog, the horse was surprised, but happy, to see the chicken arrive in the shiny BMW, and he managed to get a hold of the loop of rope the chicken tossed to him. After tying the other end to the rear bumper of the farmer's car, the chicken then drove slowly forward and, with the aid of the powerful car, rescued the horse!

Happy and proud, the chicken drove the BMW back to the farmhouse, and the farmer was none the wiser when he returned. The friendship between the two animals was cemented: best buddies, best pals.

A few weeks later, the chicken fell into a mud pit, and soon, he too, began to sink and cried out to the horse to save his life! The horse thought a moment, walked over, and straddled the large puddle.

Looking underneath, he told the chicken to grab his "thing" and he would then lift him out of the pit. The chicken got a good grip, and the horse pulled him up and out, saving his life.

The moral of the story?

When you're hung like a horse, you don't need a BMW to pick up chicks.

[632 Regal]

yep, agree but BMW is easy to say too. I think the term started it's impact through television (tv to you yuppies)

[BigD]

This is Dmitry, Gordon. :-) So you randomly drove every car until you found one you liked that pulled like that? I think it's the other way around. Most people were drawn by the fact that it's a BMW 5 series, and were sold by the way it pulls and handles. And you would have spent as much time and money making your Chevette look like that right. I'm not saying it was the ONLY reason why most people buy BMWs (some do) but image is most certainly part of it (the only variable is how big a part).

[paul p (chi-town)]

And no one here is going to tell me that status had nothing to do with their brand choice and have me believe them.

Uh, status had nothing to do with my purchase.

Name another early-mid 90s compact/mid size sports sedan, stick, IRS and most importantly Rear Wheel Drive. Certainly such an animal was not available from the Japanese.
Yeah my 1st bimmer (oh, sue me) was the 5er, which is auto, but i already had my compact sports sedan in the SE-R. That was all i could afford back in 96(?), i had yet to warm up to the e30. I did manage to test drive a 93 325 then; way out of my budget, but i knew then that i had found my perfect car. It still is, and when confronted w/ one in as nice a shape as the calypso one below i had to bite.
But here’s a clue. The 3er and the 5er are on street exposed to the elements this winter. I am protecting the newer SE-R in the garage from the evil salt that this city pours w/ abandon when it snows. And you know what, with some care the BMWs can take it and live. My tin can rice car might not.
First is the driving experience, then there’s the engineering excellence, then there is the sheer correctness of the exterior design.

I need a bumper sticker that says “I drive it, I don’t wear it.”
Not to say that i don’t appreciate the admiration that the vagon may occasionally receive. But i would trade it in a heartbeat not to deal w/ the loathing some other show. Thank god the 325 is now common as dirt.

But i speak for almost all here that whether or not they appreciate the cachet of the roundel, it is a secondary issue at best.


93 SE-R---94 530iT&A---92 325i ….”Hang up & Drive!”
”It is not the function of our government to keep the citizen from falling into error;
It is the function of the citizen to keep the government from falling into error."--Robert H. Jackson.

[MarkD]

Hi Dmitry,

are you getting the M5? Did you look at the other one I mentioned?

Mark

[BigD]

It seems no harder to say than GMC, but that 'W' is the killer. To say "double-u" in the course of speedy everyday speech is a real skill (unless you're a boring slow talker).

yep, agree but BMW is easy to say too. I think the term started it's impact through television (tv to you yuppies)