[Viffermike]

Kies Motorsports should completely abandon its business. Sell it to someone who actually knows enthusiast vehicle nomenclature, please?!?

(Thanks, Fundguy1 )

[GuidoK]

Somehow I dont have any affiliation with the word 'Bimmer'.
At least if the history of that name is how it is said (on the internet).
That would mean that its a self proclaimed nickname, and imho that has a negative taste, like wanting to have a nickname but not getting any

(opposed to Beesers and Beemers (BSA & BMW motorcycles culture))

I dont call it Bimmer (just like the germans dont call it bimmers).
But in my native language the letter W is the same as in german, so we dont have that cumbersome "Double you"

[Fundguy1]

Germas call it a Bay Em Vay phonetically.

[GuidoK]

I know
(Vay is not 100% phonetically correct)

[P1]

Originally Posted by Fundguy1

Germas call it a Bay Em Vay phonetically.

Sound more like a Dutchman to me...

[Fundguy1]

Close enough for government standards.

[Robin_NL]

'Bay Em Way'/(W=Wééh for strangers?). That's how we pronounce BMW and so do the Germans.

And another one

Cheers
Robin

[sirdaft1]

Originally Posted by P1et

Hey guys, why don't I think of a topic that could cause some discussion, then post a link to my Youtube video so you can watch a silly video so I could hopefully make $13 in ads! Let me know! LEFT OR RIGHT? TOP OR BOTTOM? Apple pie or ICE CREAM??? Post, comment and FOLLOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!

Literally LOL'd.

[Rat3d ///M]

Originally Posted by Fundguy1

Germas call it a Bay Em Vay phonetically.

Actually it's more like buh-em-vuh

[bim2er]

Originally Posted by Germanauto

I know its' supposed to be pronounced "Bimmer" for the cars but I don't like how it sounds, so I still say "Beemer."

Originally Posted by Germanauto

I know its' supposed to be pronounced "Bimmer" for the cars but I don't like how it sounds, so I still say "Beemer."

Bimmer is pronounced like swimmer...

[SD ///M4]

All this and nobody mentioned that in the UK they call a BMW a "Bee Em", like in #2?

From everything I've read over the years, as in 30-40 years, I'm pretty sure that the term "Bimmer" originated in the US Northeast, specifically within the BMW CCA in Boston, not in Germany, and rhymes with swimmer. I had a friend with a BMW motorcycle in the '70s and "Beemer" was specifically used to refer to BMW motorcycles back then. If you said "Beemer" nobody thought you were talking about a car.

From Wikipedia:

BMW slang

The initials BMW are pronounced [ˈbeː ˈɛm ˈveː] in German.[84] The model series are referred to as "Einser" ("One-er" for 1 series), "Dreier" ("Three-er" for 3 series), "Fünfer" ("Five-er" for the 5 series), "Sechser" ("Six-er" for the 6 series), "Siebener" ("Seven-er" for the 7 series). These are not actually slang, but are the normal way that such letters and numbers are pronounced in German.[85]

The English slang terms Beemer, Bimmer and Bee-em are variously used for BMWs of all kinds,[86][87] cars and motorcycles.[88][89]

In the US, specialists have been at pains to prescribe that a distinction must be made between using Beemer exclusively to describe BMW motorcycles, and using Bimmer only to refer to BMW cars,[90][91][92] in the manner of a "true aficionado"[93] and avoid appearing to be "uninitiated."[94][95] The Canadian Globe and Mail prefers Bimmer and calls Beemer a "yuppie abomination,"[96] while the Tacoma News Tribune says it is a distinction made by "auto snobs."[97] Using the wrong slang risks offending BMW enthusiasts.[98][99][100] An editor of Business Week was satisfied in 2003 that the question was resolved in favor of Bimmer by noting that a Google search yielded 10 times as many hits compared to Beemer.[101]

None of this really matters, because the general public is still going to say "Beemer" and also call a Porsche a "Porsh".

[Maynard]

Originally Posted by SakhirM4

Car spelled Bimmer - pronounced beamer.

Motorcycle spelled Beemer - pronounced beamer

Spelled differently, but both are pronounced the same.

http://jalopnik.com/139926/bimmer-vs-beamer-the-answer

This all has me confused - I was thinking they were pronounced differently (or that the debate was how to say it) not just a different spelling.

And this is one of those things that I probably used, but now that I'm thinking about is specifically, both sound wrong, and I can't remember which I usually use (mostly prefer BMW to either). These are troubling times for sure....

[08njSTEP]

While working at BMWNA I was told Beemer is BMW Motorad. A beemer is a motorcycle.

[SD ///M4]

Originally Posted by Maynard

This all has me confused - I was thinking they were pronounced differently (or that the debate was how to say it) not just a different spelling.

And this is one of those things that I probably used, but now that I'm thinking about is specifically, both sound wrong, and I can't remember which I usually use (mostly prefer BMW to either). These are troubling times for sure....

This article is what I consider to the ultimate arbiter of the meaning and pronunciation of the two words. Boston was where BMWCCA was founded, in 1969. The name of the chapter newsletter is Boston Bimmer. It's pretty likely that if they didn't invent the word, they certainly know it's origins.

If you do a Google search for "origination of the word bimmer" you will find lots of references to beemer being a BMW motorcycle and bimmer (rhyming with swimmer) being a BMW car. The older the article, the more likely it's correct.

There are people who claim that "beemer" is the "German" pronunciation of "bimmer". I"m pretty sure that they don't use the world "bimmer" in Germany since it most likely originated in the US.