Bumbershoot, the three-day music and arts festival surrounding Seattle's towering Space Needle, draws tons of music fans each year, and, as SPIN.com has discovered, most have hilarious ideas of what the word bumbershoot really means. Damon Gough of Badly Drawn Boy told SPIN.com he thought it might be a dangerous cocktail mixer (read more), and some festivalgoers had equally outlandish suggestions for how the word, which just translates to umbrella, should be defined. PHOTOS BY ERICA METZLER, JULIA SALAMONIK
We asked: What does the word bumbershoot mean? COMMENT
Name: Dan Byers
Age: 22
Hometown: San Francisco, CA
Occupation: Musician/student
"I'll say an elephant's nostril."
Name: Edward Lovett
Age: 31
Hometown: Charleston, SC
Occupation: Factory manager for Utilikits
"A big plastic tube for trash."
Name: Ellen French
Age: 17
Hometown: Lynwood, WA
Occupation: Student
"A carnival game."
Name: Andy Nonmenmacher
Age: 18
Hometown: Spokane, WA
Occupation: Unemployed
"It's bad ass."
Name: Nikki Scott
Age: 20
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Occupation: Student
"It's a tomato."
Name: Matt Trokan
Age: 25
Hometown: Cincinnati, OH
Occupation: Garden manager
"It is Arabic for 'one legged man."
Name: Liz Taylor
Age: 17
Hometown: Woodinville, WA
Occupation: Student
"I brought my own Bumbershoot with me."
Name: Troy Brunetti
Age: 17
Hometown: Tacoma, WA
Occupation: Student
"Fuckin' rock'n'roll man!"
Name: Garrett Dawson
Age: 17
Hometown: Tacoma, WA
Occupation: Student
Garrett: (in reference to Troy's quote) "I can't top that."
Name: Brynn Warriner, Heather King
Age: 27, 33
Hometown: Seattle, WA
Occupation: Editor, Nutritionist
Heather: "It's an umbrella."
Brynn: "I wondered, actually. It's like a trampoline you bounce on to get to the ocean."
