student asking question

What is "tums"? Is it commonly used?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

"Tums" refers to "tummy", "belly", or "stomach", however, in this context, it is referring to having a feeling of intuition. When people say that they have a strong feeling about something, it is called a "gut feeling" as a weird feeling is often felt from their "stomach" or from their "gut". The term "tums" is not commonly used in other contexts, except as a name of a brand of medicine to relieve stomach pain. "Tummy" is more common to use, but normally only among children. Usually people would say "stomach" or "gut" in this context. Ex: I have a strong feeling in my gut that this is wrong.

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