bosom buddy

bosom buddy

Bosom friend is recorded in the late 1500s. Back then, the bosom referred to the chest as the seat of deep emotions, though now the word usually means a woman’s “chest.” A bosom friend, then, is one you might share these deep feelings with or have deep feelings for.

Bosom buddy is an alliterative version that emerges at least by the 20th century. In the 1960s, bosom buddy was used as slang for a “gay man,” but these connotations fell off as the term spread in the 1970–80s. The 1966 musical Mame (with Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur, and 1977 film with Lucille Ball) featured a number called “Bosom Buddies,” about the play’s two close female friends.

The term was used in the early 1980s for the NBC sitcom Bosom Buddies, which starred Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari. Set in New York City, the show centered on a pair of best friends struggling in the field of creative advertising—while also pretending to be women so they could score cheap rent in a building that only allowed female residents. OK …

Among other titles, bosom buddies was used in the 1999 book by actor Rosie O’Donnell and cancer specialist Deborah Axelrod: Bosom Buddies: Lessons and Laughter on Breast Health and Cancer. It discusses concerns surrounding breast cancer.