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rum 'un
strange; a bit eccentric (? Yorkshire for rum one): Old Jim is a rumun. Also, rumin, rumun.
Editor's comments: In terms of origin "rum" = queer, odd, eccentric, is 18thC British slang, and almost certainly goes back to the earlier 16thC usage where "rum" = good, excellent (though the actual semantic shift is unaccounted for). In 19thC British dialect there was "rum duke" = odd fellow recorded in east Anglia, and "rum stick" (same meaning) recorded in Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Warwickshire. However, the majestic and exhaustive "English Dialect Dictionary" (6 sturdy volumes) doesn't record our term "rum'un" in the sense recorded in Tasmania. Though, of course, the informants below have confirmed 20thC English dialectal usage.
Contributor's comments: Heard in South Australia frequently from generations born before WW1.
Contributor's comments: I heard discussion of this word on radio national a few weeks ago, saying that was probably originally english dialect now extinct in England, and here on the web site you suggest a Yorkshire dialect; I doubt the Yorkshire connection but it is certainly still very common in the broad East Anglian rural dialect (I grew up in NE Suffolk) where there are lots variants: "He's a rumun", he's a rum old boy" etc. There are some place names links between Norfolk/Suffolk and Tas, but perhaps there is also a link in dialect.
Contributor's comments: This term also found in some of Charles Dickens works.
Contributor's comments: I was familiar with this term in Lancashire (where rum is also used alone to mean strange) in my youth, and encountered it again when I lived in Tasmania. I didn't realise it was a 'regionalism' in Australian terms. Shouldn't it be written "rum 'un"?
Contributor's comments: To get the right flavour, the word should be written "rum'un".
Contributor's comments: I am Tasmanian. In the North West Coast. The expression was often used fondly to describe the person as being a "bit of a character". Children were often referrred to as being a bit of a rumin when they had done something quaint.
Contributor's comments: My sister called someone a rumin and he commented that he had never heard that term, which is common in his home in Yorkshire, anywhere else in Australia. So I was surprised to find that he was quite correct.
Contributor's comments: strange, odd, funny: "He's a bit of a rum'un."
Contributor's comments: Presumably a shortening of the phrase "rum one" to describe someone who is a bit quirky, or (esp. children) who are a bit naughty but still emminently loveable: "That James! He's a real rummun!"
Contributor's comments: An unusual person or a person with a different approach or attitude or outlook. It is neither derogatory nor complimentary, just different. I believe the origin would have been in the days of the rum trade in the early 1800's. I have only ever heard it in Tasmania where it was in reasonably frequent use in the 1960's: "Old Dave that lives at the end of the street is a rum one."
Contributor's comments: A Tasmanian expression for a nonconformist or eccentric, the word originated in the west of England during the days of the slave trade. Immigration brought it to Van Diemen's Land. (Quoted from magazine 40º South, Winter 2000 edition): "Geez, this bloke's a rum'un."
Contributor's comments: A naughty or cheeky person: "He's a rumin, that one."
Contributor's comments: [An] affectionate term for a rascal or scallywag: "He's not a bad kid but he is a rummin."
Contributor's comments: Someone who is slightly eccentric, possibly with an interesting sense of humour. definitely a unique person: "You know Joe Bloggs? He's a rum'un."
Contributor's comments: I came to Tassie from QLD, had never heard this expression before. Now after 20 years here I'm using it!
Contributor's comments: Odd person, different to normal: "He was a rummom."
Contributor's comments: Someone who is unconventional: "She's a rum'en."
Contributor's comments: Rumun, Rum'n: Huon Valley - A bit strange in the nicest possible way!: "He's a rumun (shaking one's head and smiling wryly.)"
Contributor's comments: An odd fellow: "He's a rum un."
Contributor's comments: I have heard and used the word rumm un all my life here in Northern Tassie.