What does 'bubba' mean?

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In black slang, maybe?

― N., Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hubba Bubba

― N., Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

thought it was just a name, like Deon or Hilary

― gareth, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Bugger

― Peter Miller, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought it was like Brother. But this may just be because they both start with a B.

― Emma, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought it kind of meant fat.

― Jonnie, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Nickname/name used mainly/only in the south and now reified into "name for a southern redneck".

― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Can be fairly offensive. Imagine refering to a chinese person as "egg foo young" and you get the picture.

― Sterling Clover, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Isn't Forrest Gump's prawn firm called Bubba something?

― Jonnie, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Sterling - mm.. as in Bubba Sparxx I guess. But here it suggests its meaning is a bit more slippery. Actually forget about it - the person who needs to know thinks the might have been saying 'bubbei' or something, which is Yiddish for grandmother (despite the fact that he was black and referring to his sister). I dunno. Not important.

― N., Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i've never really heard black people use this term. I would imagine it would be slightly insulting - like calling a white person 'homeboy'.

― Samantha, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I wouldn't be insulted at being called 'homeboy'? I'd think i was cool and tell all my mates and get a license plate saying as much, if some one called me Bubba i would not be impressed...!!! That would be a serious ass kickin'

― Jebus, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

What about Bubba Smith?

― Kerry, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

syn: "good ol' boy"

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

A Southerner can call a fellow Southerner one, but it's kind of weird otherwise. I think Bill Clinton is the ultimate Bubba.

― Evangeline, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

nah, bill's too smart. By law, Bubbas cannont be Rhodes Scholars.

re: homeboy as insult. I've heard it used patronizingly. A subtle insult to strangers that wouldn't attract the attention of say, "honky." Among friends "homeboy" has a good meaning and I could see a black friend calling a white friend "my homeboy" just as easily as I could see him calling him "my nigga"

― Samantha, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It means brother in baby talk.

― Gale, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Gale's right on the derivation, except that it's more of a contraction of "brother" than baby talk in southern speech. It has a regional connotation, it's definitely "white" talk, but it's also kind of a class thing, too-- rich southern folks don't call one another "bubba" unless they're talking to a close pal, and then it's kind of teasing. Tracer is pretty much spot on with the "good ol' boy" thing; it's deer blind talk.

That's the honest use of "bubba." The other use is mocking good ol' boys, or (second order, like Bubba Sparxx) "fuck all y'all" ironic self-mockery. I think Clinton embraced the term because it gave him a veneer of populism, but he's nothing like a bubba. There's a southern radio persona, Bubba Skynyrd, who was invented by a (Yankee) DJ to mock rednecks but ended up being embraced by them.

I have southern bona fides but there's no way I'd be called "bubba"-- too urban, too middle class, no regional accent.

― Benjamin, Wednesday, 13 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

four years pass...

I know someone with the name Bubba, so there it is a name. she is black also, thought i would add that

― Jodie Evans, Tuesday, 25 April 2006 01:27 (nineteen years ago)

In prison, Bubba's the term for the guy who makes you his bitch.

― naus (Robert T), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 01:39 (nineteen years ago)

Let us suppose you are a southern male. Your name is "John Smith," and you have a son whom you name "John Smith, Jr." In the american south, it is likely that "John Smith, Jr." will be nicknamed "Bubba." If "John Smith, Jr." has a son whom he names "John Smith III," then it is likely that "John Smith III" will be nicknamed "Trey."

And now all you ignorant yankees know the true meaning of "Bubba."

― Austin Still (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 11:07 (nineteen years ago)

I do know that when I lived in the south, I had an Oldsmobile Cutlass Cierra. The fact that it was an American made sedan greatly decreased the "Bubba Factor", or the inability for foreign cars to be fixed properly by hick mechanics.

― Big Loud Mountain Ape (Big Loud Mountain Ape), Tuesday, 25 April 2006 11:26 (nineteen years ago)

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