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From Yiddish, a local (New York City) loan word, in certain circles:

More or less literally: "Granny Fact"

"Old Wives Tale"

In the Hebrew, or, perhaps, Aramaic, of the Talmud, a "Maisa" is a deed. One asks for "Halacha L'maisa," or "The Law in application" that is, what you actually do.

It can also be used to mean fact. Someone tells you something astonishing and you say "L'maisa?" or "Really?"

Someone tells you something astonishing and you say "L'maisa?" or "Really?"

Indeed!

...and word.

...and fact.

Bubba maisa does not come from German at all, it comes from Italian and Yiddish. The origin of the term is the Bovo Buch, where Bovo is the main character's name and "buch" means "book" in Yiddish. The Yiddish version of the book was adapted from the Italian version. By the late 18th century buch was replaced with maisa, which means story, and eventually was corrupted into bubbe maisa. The term refers to Bovo, a man who was not anyone's grandmother.

"Maisa" itself means an action or a happening, which in Yiddish is used for story, as in something that happened. When people ask "L'maisa?" they are asking if it is practical, as in, something that they can or should do.

Welcome

Welcome from me also. It's always nice to have a wise person on board.

Note that this thread, while still accessible, has been inert for more than fifteen years. Don't expect a lot of discussion in reply.

Finally - as an aside - I've always chuckled over the multilingual pun asserting that the antibiotic in chicken soup is Bubbamycin...