First of all, I don't know why English speakers have so many words to describe the same damn thing 'butt' . By now, I have learned 'ass' 'booty' 'tush' 'butt'. And I feel that maybe there are still some alternative words coming along as I keep learning English. Don't you feel annoying when you have to memorize different words just for understanding one single thing. (By the way, if anyone knows some other words that can replace butt, please teach me in the comments, I hope to end this thing once and for all)
Secondly, as a English learner I don't even know what's the difference among those words, and how to use them accordingly cos in China we only have one word for that part of body. Does anyone could teach me how to use them in different situations?
Damon, I'm sorry but there are more words for butt!
If you want to be polite, you would say rear or behind. These phrases are often used with children, who are often told not to say butt.
Butt is a casual word. I use it when talking to my friends or if I am speaking in a direct manner. For example I may say to my friend, "Do I have something on my butt?" Or if I am at the doctor, I could say, "I am experiencing pain near the top of my butt/behind near my hips."
Ass is a swear word. It can be vulgar and should only be used with close friends or in very casual settings. You may hear the phrase, "Check out that ass." People use this to say, "look that person has a nice butt." However, this is not a polite word to use.
Booty & tush are fun and playful ways to refer to your butt. You might say to a child, "Get your booty in gear." This means the child needs to walk faster, similar to putting a car into gear so it will move faster. These are more casual versions of butt, but they are not as vulgar as ass.
Last, here are some slang words for butt! Badonkadonk (from a country song by Trace Adkins), buns, bum, derriére, or donk.
Aside from what Matt said, I can think of 后面 (literally, "behind") and 尻 for "butt" words in Chinese. Both of those seem to be euphemisms.
Taboo and controversial topics tend to be fertile ground for slang, swearing and euphemisms to emerge. Sex is the big universal one, because sex is a cause of conflict in all human cultures (in all the animal world, in fact). Also very common is excreta (poo and pee), religion, and family (specifically, insults targeting your family). Less common is the disease category, which English and Chinese lack, but which exists in Dutch.
Interestingly, English-speakers' attitudes towards butts are very contradictory: butts are in the "sex" category (a sign of a good figure) but also the "excreta" category (they're where poo comes from). This might explain why butt-words have such diverse connotations.
I mentioned above the "categories" of swearing, slang and euphemisms. They don't always overlap neatly between languages. For example, Chinese has euphemisms for pooing but no swear words. For historical reasons, European languages have a lot of religion-based swear words, but Chinese more-or-less lacks that category. On the other hand, for cultural reasons Chinese has a lot of family-based swear words, but English only has a couple.
Evidently, Chinese lacks a "butt" category. For what reason, I'm not sure.
And in Britain, we have 'bum' and 'arse'.
Both great words.
More terms: Behind, derriere, buttocks, bottom, backside, rear end, posterior, rump, bum
Some more fun, related terms: butt cheeks, ass cheeks, butthole, asshole
The difference is in politeness. Ass is rather crude, but bottom or behind is more polite.
