Best friend/Bosom friend

[Barman]

In the following sentences, which one is correct?

1) He is my best friend.

2) He is my bosom friend.

 

[probus]

They don't mean exactly the same thing. Anyway stick with best. Bosom as a modifier of friend is extremely old-fashioned. My mother used it occasionally but I haven't heard it in at least fifty years.

 

[Skrej]

At least in the US, the term is 'bosom buddy' not 'bosom friend'.

That set phrase is still used some, probably more so than the term 'bosom' alone is used to a woman's chest nowadays. That usage is quite outdated*. I've never heard of it used as a modifier outside of that set phrase 'bosom buddy'.


*Although Greg Brown does sing about nearly getting "bosumed to death" by his aunts":lol:

 

[SoothingDave]

It was an outdated phrase in the 1980s when there was a TV sitcom called "Bosom Buddies."

 

[emsr2d2]

I (and others) still refer to good friends as bosom buddies.

 

[Rover_KE]

It's probably exclusive to women.

 

[GoesStation]

It's probably exclusive to women.

To me, "bosom buddies" sounds like an old-fashioned way to say "best (male) friends". I don't think anyone has used it in colloquial American English for decades, except ironically.

 

[Tdol]

It does sound a bit Sherlock Holmes/Doctor Watson to me.

 

[jutfrank]

The phrase bosom buddies sounds old-fashioned to me too. I might use it, but only in a purposely humorous way.

It definitely isn't exclusive to women.