Bumsi the Problembär

Here's one for the translators - when does a bear become a Problembär? Maybe due to the name?

The current World Biathlon Championship taking place in Antholz, South Tirol has a mascot. No news there, you might think. But this mascot revels in the glorious name of "Bumsi". Hang on, doesn't that sound like... this word? Now things get interesting.


So there is a Bumsi tradition in South Tirol. That will be good for tourism. German fans, cheered on by Stefan Raab et al, have been seen to enjoy heartily the local Schnapps and cry "Bumsi! Bumsi!" in the stadium. So why pick such a name?


Actually there's some truth in that - as the ending of the Heinrich Boll novella "Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum" shows.
Katharina is persued by a press campaign about her Männerbekanntschaften and at the end shoots a reporter saying that if Bums is what they want Bums is exactly what they'll get. And then the language police jumped in


Pengsi?! The locals don't really care either way. After a survey from radio station Südtirol 1 most listeners couldn't understand the fuss. Some of them didn't understand what bumsen meant anyway. Ah well, that might not be quite so good for tourism then.

• Ein Bumsi kommt selten allein - ZDF article
• „Bumsi“ wird zum Problembär - FAZ
• IBU Biathalon World Championships - Official website
• Die verlorene Ehre der Katharina Blum - Wikipedia

The Biathlon World Championship are taking place in Antholz, Italy - a city renowned for its amusing and playful mascots. This year, however, there is a problem: Its name.

Bumsi - an onomapoetic, euphonious nickname derived from the sound made by the rifles as the athletes shoot at the targets, a symbol of the sport. What could be more harmless? Or, as Shakespeare put it in "Romeo and Juliet", what's in a name. Its "other" meaning. As most of us know by now (or are willing to learn), "bumsen" is a German slang for having sex. So is Bumsi a sex-maniac just waiting for the athletes to spread-eagle themselves on their mats in the snow? Did some drunken revelry lead to an orgy giving bi (meaning two) and athlon (I suppose, never learned Greek, meaning fight) a completely different meaning?

More harmless, less ambiguous names would have been Knalli, Schussi, Peng (no, that would have to be a panda). So let's lean back and watch Bumsi and the athletes do their own thing.

EDIT: Darn, got distracted and Katrina beat me to it. Cheers!

For what do we need any of those dumb-looking mascots anyway?

Just think of Goleo or Hanniball (the bear from the handball world cup)...no one really cares about them and but the industry thinks they will sell great so they produce thousands and thousands of toys of those mascots...

Who really believed that a lion with no pants on and a grin like someone who has just drank like 20 beers and smoked a couple of joints would be THE top seller of the World cup...would you really let someone who believes this manage your company?...There were maybe even more Germans buying Italian jerseys after the semi final, than persons buying a Goleo...

Well now back to Bumsi...we always have this discussion nearly every year in the media...why is it called "Bumsi"...?

"Bumsi" (in english he could be called "shaggy"...does that ring a bell? ;-) ) is in my opinion the best of those names like "Pengi" or "Knalli"...

In my opinion mascots are nice for a laugh but no top sellers or even just the things people will associate with the world cup (of any sport)...

(Or would YOU really think of a bear called Bumsi when somebody says the name Antholz? I guess nearly everybody would think about anything but a bear with a silly name!)

Mascots are not up-to-date anymore...they are overaged...and it will probably take another Football World Cup and another disasterous selling mascot, till hopefully someone will recognize that it's no stupid mascot that represents a world cup or any championship...IT'S THE PEOPLE! THE CROWD! IT'S US!