A recent television commercial refers to Keister, a Minnesota town, having a population of about 500 people. A woman on a bicycle rides around the town, coasting by a market, a fire department, and a marching band, referring to the town name each scene. Then, while sitting on that hard bike seat, she refers to her own “keister,” remarking: “And if I can get comfortable talking about this Keister, then you can get comfortable using Preparation H.” — an ointment to relieve the pain and itching caused by hemorrhoids.
Every television viewer would have associated “Keister” immediately as a slang word for Gluteus Maximus or buttocks, the correct anatomical words for one’s posterior. Actually, many other dictionary words exist to differentiate one bum from another. Some viable candidates:
Rump,
Tush,
Tooshie,
Ass (vulgar),
Bum,
Bottom,
Behind,
Butt
Derriere,
Keister,
Fanny,
Duff,
Hiny (heinie),
Booty
Other terms exist, of course, so the above list is not intended to be an end-all. At bottom, Ancient Greece concocted some interesting distinguishing terms to differentiate various rump characteristics, thus demonstrating that Derriere watching is older than the Acropolis. Some examples:
Callipygian (kal-uh-PIJ-ee-uhn): having a shapely (well-proportioned and pleasing shape) buttocks. Its origin comes from the Greek, referring to a statue of Aphrodite, as beautiful (calli) + pyge (rump.) What would one call a terrible shaped buttocks?
Cacopygian (ka co PIJ ee-uhn), Having an ugly buttocks. as the “caco” root is the opposite of “calli.”
Dasypygian (da see PIJ ee-un) Having a hairy buttocks.
Steatopygian (Ste-at-o-PIJ-ee-uhn:) Having an accumulation of large amounts of fat on the buttocks; ie, a fat rump. The build is not confined to the “gluteal” regions, but extends to the outside and front of the thighs and tapers to the knee. (Steatopygia, wikipedia.com)
I could go on — butt, I must bring this post to an end.