Nickname for people who live in Birmingham, UK. Like Canuck for Canadians, this term isn't considered insulting by residents, but people outside the area usually use it in a derogatory way.

I heard the phrase "patronize the brummies" on three separate occasions during my 2 weeks in the UK last year. (eg. a review of a Birmingham restaurant in a London paper: "...menu screams, "Let's patronize the brummies" with items like "Cold Borscht Soup").

My wife and of course in-laws are brummies, so I don't share this derogatory opinion (often).

Derived from Brum, from Brummagem, being Birmingham.

Also an adjective as in brummie accent, brummie sense of humour and 'brummie goit'. Compare to scouse, Cockney and yellowbelly.

For your actual stereotypical brummie, see Timothy Spall's perfomance as the computer game technician in Red Dwarf, series five, Back to Reality. For standard abuse of brummies, see Rimmer's response: "You brummie goit!"

The brummie's brummie is to be found in Dudley or, as we prefer to call it, "Doodloy". This is despite the fact that Dudley is in the Black Country (and its inhabitants are therefore yam yams); most non-brummies do not see the difference.

Also widely used outside of the Midlands to refer to an individual from any part of the West Midlands region. This has an empirical basis since the most distinctive traits of the accent are common throughout the region.

Even used in this sense it's generally not taken as derogatory (even if it's often meant as such). The exception is people who don't consider themselves Brummies - either because they have a local identity distinct from Birmingham (like Black Country) or because for whatever reason they prefer to deny their Midlands heritage altogether.