Help Me, Bubby!

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Yiddish Your Bubbe Never Taught You
Emmes

Poetry by Jewish Grandaughters
Newman

Bubbe & Gram
Hawxhurst

Bubbe's Kitchen
Waxman

My Bubbe's Arms
Reudor

Bubbie & Zeide's Favorite Language
Solomon

Bennett and His Bubbe's Beau
Feigenbaum

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Send your questions to helpmebubby@yahoo.com
Wednesday, July 26, 2006
   
Hi Bubby,

I'm a mother of a 3 year old son. I just started calling him bubby because I usually hear it referred to as a brother, a bubby.

My mother-in-law said that she heard Fran Dresser on the TV show "The Nanny" call her aunt a bubby. So we were wondering... what is the real meaning for the word or name, "Bubby"?

Thanks,
Inquiring Reader


From the granddaughters:

We've been asked this question a few times. Recently we learned there is a movie called, Bad Boy, Bubby, but that has nothing to do with us.

There's even a "singing Bubby" who will come to your house and perform a Jewish-grandmother-esque telegram. But that's not our Bubby.

One of the more famous "Bubby's" is a restaurant in NYC, called... you guessed it... Bubby's. Hey, they should give us a discount.

And yes, you are right. There are times when the name Bubby is as a term of endearment for a brother.

But in our case, Bubby is the classic name for Grandmother, in Yiddish. We've been calling our grandmother "Bubby" since the beginning. Many Jewish families do this, though they spell it in a variey of ways: Bubbie or Bubbe.

A year ago in June, another woman sent us the same question, and Bubby responded. We're reposting that below for your enjoyment:



Dear Bubby,

I am the mother to a 3 month old daughter that I have started to call Bubby because it sort of sounds like Baby. My mother heard me calling my daughter this and said that it means grandma. Is this true? Should I not call my little baby Bubby? Where does this term come from?

From,
A New Mommy to a little Bubby



Dear New Mommy to a new Bubby,

I think calling your baby Bubby is very cute. The name does mean Grandmother in Yiddish and you can call your baby anything you like.

I know of a case where a family lived in a neighborhood where the people could not pronounce the child's name. So they called her Honey. And forever after everyone called the little girl "Honey". And Honey was Honey to everyone. She was my sister and a beautiful person.



1 OPINIONS ADDED

Cool, I never knew this! I'm Russian and call my grandmother Baba or Babu. It seems to be similar in many languages.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:18 PM  

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Bubby is our 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93 94 year old grandmother.
A few years ago we introduced her to the internet and we've been getting daily e-mails from her ever since. When she was 87, we began this website. We now believe she is the oldest blogger on the Internet.

Whether Bubby is reminding us that boyfriends do not substitute for warm jackets in the winter, or that it's better to receive a compliment than a brick, she always has something to say to her granddaughters.

Now with this new website, Bubby can finally share her wisdom with the rest of the world. And she's excited about it! (Which confuses us, because she used to say we were all she needed.)

Hopefully this will be as much fun for new readers as it will surely be for her. And if not, well, as Bubby says, it will all come out in the wash.

So, are you looking for advice on food, work, a broken heart, or the perfect bat mitzvah present?

But no dirty words allowed or you'll only get one matzah ball.


Bald and oblivious
Denim diagnosis
Girls are weird
Halloween ideas
I smell him from here
I'm gonna marry you
How to meet a man
Nerds go far
Political predictions
Sloppy spouse
Tastes like chicken



Voted "Blog Of Note" on Blogger.com (2003)
4-star Review from The Weblog Review (1.5.04)
Voted "Blog Of The Day" by The Blog Hunter
Voted "Blog Of The Day" by Eugene.com
Featured in the Tampa Tribune online
Featured in USA TODAY (4.22.04)
Bubby's first radio interview - 96.5 WOXL (5.4.04)
JewsWeek Jewriffic Award: "Best blog of the week" (6.6.04)
New York Times: Letter to the Editor (6.11.04)
Jerusalem Post: Feature article (7.2.04)
Interview for Akron, Ohio newspaper (aug.'04)
Golden Web Page Award (dec.'04)
Reader's Digest article, "Me Me Media" (july.'05)
Netscape.com: "Alternative Site of the Day" (aug.'05)
AARP Magazine article: July/August 2006 issue
Listed as "Cool Site Of The Day": (7.27.06)
O Globo Online: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (aug.'06)

Bubby on itunes
Holding Myself Back
Where's My Glory?
End Of The World
Overprotected
17 And Pregnant
The Other Woman
Grandma Troubles



Other Jewish Bloggers:
80-year old Millie
Nice Jewish Doctor
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