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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Maybe some folks are getting it mixed up with bubeleh?
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Posts: 1,773
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 1,773 |
Bub is ... <a> southernism, certainly, and is actually a given name at times!
I had an Uncle Bub, from northern Indiana.
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
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Yiddish bobele would be the diminutive of bobe, i.e., 'little old lady'. I believe, in Yiddish, it is only applied to women as an endearment, but perhaps got extended in its English exile. Looking around in Weinreich's, I see also: bobe 'hag' (different entry from bobe 'grandmother; old woman'), bobe-mayse באבע-מעשה 'fairytale', bobetse 'hag', bobeshi 'granny'.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Joined: Dec 2000
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
> In the mix, may be German Bube 'boy, male child', which may be related to English boy and baby.
'Bub' is the word for boy. A 'Bube' is (now) only used for a jack/knave in cards.
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Joined: Dec 2000
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old hand
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old hand
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 1,055 |
> it is only applied to women as an endearment
Could it be that a lot of such familial and familiar terms of endearment have a p/b consonant in or at the front of them? ..bub, bud, pal, pop, pard, buddy, bro, pa... So is bub part of a word cluster? Isn't the b/p sound one of the first the be pronounced by children? Maybe there's some relevance.
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Joined: Aug 2005
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 3,290 |
Could it be that a lot of such familial and familiar terms of endearment have a p/b consonant in or at the front of them?
Some folks hypothesize so, and some don't. Ones that don't: dad, Russian tata, Yiddish zeyde, Italian nono, German Vati.
Ceci n'est pas un seing.
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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NO FAIR (!) that zmjezhd knows how to make Hebrew characters appear on the Board.
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Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 167
member
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member
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 167 |
bub = Oz slang contraction for baby, whichever gender
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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Doctor Bill suggests it might be an infantile (e.g. sibling) mispronunciation of "brother."
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Hey, johnjohn--good to see you! If Jackie was being a lot admonishing, she might have said "Buster". You got that right, Dudette!  I've used Bub all my life, 90-some-odd percent of the time as pure teasing. All I can suggest is try and go by context, which if it isn't clear here, please ask me--though usually I try to put unmistakable indicators when I'm being serious.
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