A Canadian-born caller says her mother, who is from Britain, addresses her grandson as booby. In The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren, researchers Iona and Peter Opie write that booby is a children’s term for “a foolish crybaby,” which may be connected. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “The Pet Name “Booby””
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, my name is Mary. I am calling from Dallas, Texas.
Welcome to the show.
Well, I was calling because I had a question. Ever since my son was born nine years ago,
My mother, who’s from England, has called him booby as a term of endearment.
She said she got this name from her grandparents, but I have not heard anyone anywhere use this
Expression. And I grew up in Canada with a lot of, you know, English people around. So I was
Wondering if you had any insight into this. Okay. And does she use it in any particular context?
Like if he’s behaving a certain way or just all the time? Well, it’s not when he’s misbehaving,
For sure. It’s more like to call him at like, hey, boobie, what’s going on? Or so it’s obviously
Done in a positive manner. It’s never used in a negative respect. Okay. And he’s nine years old
Now? Yeah. So she doesn’t really call my daughter it so much. I don’t know if it’s because he came
First, but it was since he was born. Interesting. So she said she has her grandparents. So my mom is
Almost 70. She said her grandparents used to call her that. -huh. And so she still calls him that
At nine years old and he’s cool with that? Not so much. It’s in the house now. We will not do it
Outside the house.
Got it.
Got it.
Booby outside the house
Is likely to be misunderstood.
Right.
There’s your inside voice
And there’s your inside language.
Exactly.
Oh, that’s really interesting.
Well, I know that in Britain,
Booby has long been used
As a term for crybaby.
With varying pronunciations, right?
Sometimes more like bubby than booby.
Yeah, or like a simpleton or something.
And I could see where that might get
Extended to some kind of affectionate
Kind of just booby.
Like when he’s crying for, you know, food or a little bit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Grant and I have talked before about the researchers Iona and Peter Opie, who wrote a book called The Lore and Language of School Children.
And they write in there that children seem to associate this term with crying and that a booby is a foolish crybaby from possibly boo baby.
Boo baby.
Oh, interesting.
A mocking term.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I could see how you could, as you suggested, calm a child by saying boo baby and that that might just evolve into a term of affection.
Well, what comes to my mind is the 1988 movie Die Hard.
What?
There’s a scene in there where this kind of unctuous, weasley character by the name of Harry Ellis, played by Hart Bochner.
He’s trying to be like the big man and save the day when the terrorists have taken over the building, right?
And so he tries to negotiate with Hans Gruber, played by Alan Rickman.
And he says, Hans, booby, I’m your white knight.
And it’s always struck me as super odd.
But this is kind of maybe making me think that that’s the same word.
Oh, that makes me think of the Yiddish.
Well, maybe.
Booby.
Right.
Maybe like for grandmother or Nana.
Yeah.
That sounds more like that.
Yeah.
I don’t know.
Maybe because he’s German.
He was thinking that that’s the way he needed to talk to that guy.
But why would he call him that?
Yeah.
The guy with the guns.
Beats me.
Anyway, for what that’s worth, which is maybe very little.
But, Mary, it’s really interesting.
I’m not aware of anybody else in this country among the people I know who use boobie in that way, though, for kids.
Grant, do you know anybody who’s ever referred to their kids as that?
Right.
And so that’s why I found it interesting because I grew up in Canada.
I had obviously English grandparents around all the time and English mother.
We traveled to England and then we moved to the U.S. About 10 years ago.
And so in either country, I have not heard the expression.
Very interesting.
Did you ask, though?
Yes, I did ask her.
And so, of course, she pulls out her huge dictionary.
And she thought it came from – she was wondering herself because I had said that I had called in about this word.
And she thinks that it’s a type of bird as well.
So she wondered if it didn’t come from, like, it’s like a hungry bird or something.
It’s like, so she wondered if it didn’t come from that because she herself doesn’t know,
But she knows the term of endearment that had been passed down.
Yeah, the blue-footed booby.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, there’s no…
She wondered if that had any relevance.
Yeah, that’s really distant.
That’s highly unlikely.
Yeah, I agree with Grant on that.
All right.
Well, we’re going to put the word out.
And, you know, we have a huge listenership.
And if anybody else uses this, we are sure to get emails and phone calls about it.
All right?
Awesome.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, Mary.
Hi to the booby.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
Take care.
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I’m a little late to the game. I’ve been binge-listening to past episodes and was so excited when I heard this one. My aunt has always called my brother Booby. He never really liked it, but it continues even though he’s in his mid 30s. She isn’t British. Her entire family is from Belleville, Illinois. As far as I know, he’s the only one in the group of cousins that she gave a nickname, and this is the one she picked.
I heard this today….my dad has always us “booby” as a term of endearment. He had told me that it was Yiddish. Not like “Bubbie” (grandma) but pronounced “booby”.
“Hans, bubbie…” is definitely from the Yiddish, as I suspect is the origin on this caller’s pet name as well. Rather than pronounced as “booby,” blue-footed or otherwise, the Yiddish “u” sound is somewhere between the English short u and oo sounds, which is where I think the confusion lies. “Bubbie” (grandmother) is often used *by* a grandmother as a term of endearment for young children, often as the diminutive “bubbeleh” (little grandmother), with role-reversing family-names common in this and other cultures. So when he calls Hans “bubbie” he’s talking to him in a very familial way, like a grandparent would talk to a young child, more like the English “Hans, kiddo” but more cuddly.