Bubba

In American usage, "Bubba" is a term of endearment mainly given to boys. Being formed from the word "brother", it often indicates that someone is an "older brother".[1]

This article is about the Southern United States term. For the Kaytranada album, see Bubba (album). For the fish, see Bubba (fish).

Etymology and history

The linguist Ian Hancock has described similarities between the African Krio language and Gullah, the creole language of the Black people of the isolated Sea Islands of South Carolina, and points out that the Krio expression bohboh ('boy') appears in Gullah as buhbuh, which may account for the "Bubba" of the American South.[2]

Robert Ferguson notes in his book English Surnames that "Bubba" corresponds with the German Bube, "boy". This matches Saxon and Hibernian tradition.[3]

Because of its association with the southern part of the United States, "Bubba" is also often used outside the South as a pejorative to mean a person of low economic status and limited education. "Bubba" may also be taken to mean one who is a "good ol' boy". At times, it may be used as a term of endearment (or in an insulting sense) for a person, especially to a man, who is either overweight or has a seemingly powerful large body frame and used as an archetypical stereotype to paint a mental image of a boogeyman in reference to prison rape to scare a newcomer to the penal system.[4][5]

Other meanings

In the US Army and Marines, "Bubba" can mean a lazy soldier, similar to "grunt", but with connotations of endearment instead of derision (e.g., "Can you make that device easier to work with, because every Bubba is going to have to use it?").

The word exists in other languages and carries similar meanings. "Bubba" is common in Australia and New Zealand as a noun to refer affectionately to a baby. For example, in Australia, the Queensland State Government has a baby immunisation programme called "BubbaJabs" for Aboriginal babies within Queensland.[6]

In gun culture, "Bubba" is a term used for a person who permanently alters or modifies historic firearms, with no regard for its historical value, or as a verb or adjective to describe the act of or an already modified historical firearm.[7]

In Yiddish, the word Bobe [with a vowel similar to a shortened version of the vowel of caught + beh] means "grandmother" and as a form of address, is often rendered by English speakers as "Bubba" or "Bubbie".

People

Nickname

Middle name

Stage name

Fictional characters

Films and television

Games

Literature

Other uses
  • Bubba (fish) (d. 2006), the first fish known to have undergone chemotherapy

See also
  • Bubber
  • Sissy, a similar nickname for girls, from "sister"

References
  1. Attaway, Roy (1985). Boating. Vol. 57. p. 10. ISSN 0006-5374.
  2. "Welcome | The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition". Yale.edu. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  3. Ferguson, Robert (1858). English Surnames: And Their Place in the Teutonic Family. G. Routledge & Company. p. 272. Retrieved March 2, 2016. bubba.
  4. "Interview with a link spammer". The Register. Retrieved January 21, 2008.
  5. "Mr. Spammer, meet Bubba your new cell mate". ZDNet Blog: Between the Lines. Retrieved January 21, 2008.
  6. https://www.health.qld.gov.au/clinical-practice/guidelines-procedures/diseases-infection/immunisation/bubba-jabs
  7. Tyler (September 3, 2016). "The Top 10 Worst Modified Bubba Guns". The Good Gun. Retrieved November 3, 2020.
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