Hubba, hubba

So, today I started work early and kept at it until Zorro would have no more of it.  Since it is such a lovely day, I took the winter 'covers' of my park benches and I sat in the sun for quite a while.  Zorro found the whole experience fantastic.  He sniffed the air, he poked his nose in and around all the front yard shrubs, and even laid in the sunny grass until he heard an unusual sound that sent him bounding up to the fence to see what the heck was going on.

As a result, my day slipped into mid-afternoon, and I have finally found a few minutes to post something on my blog.

This morning while I was working I had the TV on and tuned in to my favorite classic television channel.  I've no idea why I've developed this habit, I never even listened to the radio, however now, even thought  I generally don't even pay attention to what is on I guess the noise is 'friendly', whatever!   However, when I finally took a break to get dressed McHale's Navy was on, and one of the guys on the show happened to exclaim "Bubba bubba".  Wow, did that bring back memories.  I've not heard that expression for decades.

Of course, that got me to wondering.   Where did this expression come from and what does it mean.  And...here we go again.

According to the Urban Dictionary, it is a Southern Slang to express approval, excitement and or pleasure.  Or, it can simply be an expression to tell somebody to "hurry up".  However, according to that dictionary, it also came to describe an "extremely hot or sexy looking woman".  Okie, dokie then.

I was still not satisfied with that answer, so went to one of my other favorites, Dictionary.Com and found that the term became popular sometime between 1940 and 1945 and although the origin is unknown, it is probably an American expression.   And became popular during WWII when military men used it to show appreciation of a 'pretty young maiden'.  Some seem to think the origin could be Arabic, Chinese or Spanish, there is no real evidence to prove those theories.

Now I confess, although I remember "hubba hubba"' being used by fellows that hung out on street corners and guys working on construction sites, I was never honored with a personal "hubba hubba" which would have been nice.  That's okay though, because occasionally I would get a Wolf Whistle, and that was just as good, maybe even better. 

Oh, you've never heard that expression either?  I think I'll save that for another time.

P.S.  The term 'hubba hubba' is probably more familiar today because of the dome shaped one and two person camping tents that are available, or perhaps, for the bright orange winter squash popularly used baked or as a hardy soup.  I don't do camping, but I do so enjoy a good baked squash or a hardy squash soup, yummm.