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#147419 09/06/05 01:45 PM
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Maybe some folks are getting it mixed up with bubeleh?


#147420 09/06/05 01:53 PM
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Bub is ... <a> southernism, certainly, and is actually a given name at times!

I had an Uncle Bub, from northern Indiana.


#147421 09/06/05 02:03 PM
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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.
#147422 09/06/05 04:43 PM
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> 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.


#147423 09/06/05 04:54 PM
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> 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.


#147424 09/06/05 05:06 PM
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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.
#147425 09/06/05 07:03 PM
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NO FAIR (!) that zmjezhd knows how to make Hebrew characters appear on the Board.



#147426 09/06/05 09:41 PM
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bub = Oz slang contraction for baby, whichever gender


#147427 09/06/05 10:33 PM
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Doctor Bill suggests it might be an infantile (e.g. sibling) mispronunciation of "brother."


#147428 09/06/05 11:03 PM
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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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