hubba-hubba

[A. Maberry]

FWIW:
RHHDAS has
hubba-hubba, interj. [cf. earlier forms haba-haba and hava-hava with "have
a life, s.v. LIFE; alleged derivation from Chinese hao3-pu4-hao3 is shown
by A.F. Moe (AS XXXVI [1961] 188-94) to be untenable, as are those sugg.
by A.D. Weinberg (AS XXII [1947] 34-9) repeated in NDAS. See esp.
discussion by P. Tamony (Americanisms (No.7) 1965]

Allen
maberry at u.washington.edu

On Tue, 7 Mar 2000, Daniel Long wrote:

> Bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
> >   I have an earlier hubba-hubba, and I traced habba-habba to 1915.
>
> Oh Barry, you ARE a tease.  Tell me more, tell me more.
> Danny
>
> P.S. Someone sent me this.   A Chinese origin sounds possible
> considering and the early users (US soldiers) and the timing (consider
> gung-ho), although the phonology of hao pu hao seems all wrong.   I
> don't even understand the second theory.   (Why would fishermen be
> _warned_ of fish?)
>
> > QPB Encyclopedia of Word Phrase Origins, by Robert Hendrickson,1997,
> >     published by Facts on File Inc NYC  says:
> > hubba-hubba. "A delirious delight in language making," Mencken calls
> > the coining of HUBBA_HUBBA. The expression was ubiquitous during WW2
> > made famous by a leering Bob Hope, the linguistic equivilant of a wolf
> > whistle that was uttered lasciviously when as attractive woman walked
> > past a group of men. Sexual but highly complimentary, it was often
> > hubba hubba hubba, the third awesome hubba thrown in for added emphasis
> > if body language warranted it. Anyway, we're told that the term originated
> > with "flyboys" US Airmen who got it from Chinese airmen being trained at
> > a Florida airbase early in WW2. Supposedly it is a corruption of the
> > familiar Chinese greeting HOW_PU_HOW. A second theory, wholly unpalatable,
> > traces the expression to Hubba, "a cry given to warn fishermen of the approach
> > of pilchards."
>
> --
> Daniel Long, Associate Professor     tel  +81-426-77-2184
> Japanese Language and Literature Dept.    fax  +81-426-77-2140
> Tokyo Metropolitan University
> 1-1 Minami Osawa, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo  192-0397 Japan
> mailto:dlong at bcomp.metro-u.ac.jp
> http://nihongo.human.metro-u.ac.jp/long/
>