Hubba-hubba [Was: Aw, naw he di?n'!]

Mon Nov 15 21:54:16 UTC 2010

The Portland _Morning Oregonian_ of Feb. 2, 1910, advertises (p. 12)
that "Ki-Ki, the Ha-Ba Ha-Ba Man, remarries his divorced wife on the stage
at 8 o'clock tonight."  There's even a photo of Harry in costume on p.
7.(America's Historical Newspapers).

JL

On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 4:44 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Hubba-hubba [Was: Aw, naw he di?n'!]
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  HDAS has "hubba-hubba" in its earlier incarnation as "hab(b)a-hab(b)a"
> from
> 1941.
>
> The miracle of NewspaperArchive may have (almost) solved this etymological
> mystery. Allow me to quote at some length:
>
> 1910 _Muscatine [Ia.] Journal_ (Feb. 11) 4:
>
> MONKEY MAN WINS WIFE BACK AGAIN
> ...Ki-Ki Reweds Divorced Wife In Portland..."Ki Ki, the Haba Haba Man," as
> he is known in the show world or the "monkey man" of street fair fame,  has
> again won back his wife, fromerly Miss Lottie E. Wilson, to whom he was
>  wedded in Muscatine on Steptember 10, 1900, and who deserted him at
> Seattle
> last summer. Shortly after the close of the Alaskan exposition the young
> wife secured a divorce from the picturesque spieler, but now she has
> returned to him....The couple were married here during the street fair, at
> which time the monkey man was heard daily barking for a show on Sycamore
> and
> Second streets. He was dressed and acted like a large monkey and his "Haba
> Haba" cry drew hundreds to the tent, before every performance.  The bride
> is
> 26 years old as against the even two score years of the Haba Haba Man who,
> in private life, is known as Harry L. Blitz....
>
> For twenty-four years the Haba Haba Man has been wearing his strange rig
> and
> shouting his strange cry, which, once heard at the Seattle fair, was
> repeated by thousands of children in imitation of the man with the monkey
> face. Blitz says he is the son of Signor Blitz, for years with P.T. Barnum,
> the great showman....The great "P.T." personally asked Blitz to make up
> like
> [a] Zulu. He accepted the suggestion and for almost a quarter century has
> been appearing in that role from one end of the world to the other....
>
> This is fascinating evidence because:
>
> 1. it provides a believable point of origin for "hubba-hubba" even before
> it
> was spelled that way
>
> 2. it demonstrates that a new expression could once take decades to catch
> on
> generally (Blitz apparently began shouting "haba-haba," in 1886 but the
> interjection went unattested as a national "novelty" till 1941)
>
> 3. and that was the case even though Blitz was yelling "haba haba" from one
> end of the world to another for twenty-odd years and "thousands of
> children"
> were shouting "haba haba" in the city of Seattle in 1909.
>
> By 1912 some baseball players were saying "haba haba":
>
> 1912 _The New North_ (Rhinelander, Wis.) 1: Manager Paul Gaston of the
> Rhinelander base ball [sic] club has arranged a game with the Odanah
> Indians
> in this city next Sunday....John McElrone...is manager of the Indians and
> it
> is said that when he wants them to win a game he just says "haba haba" and
> they turn the trick.
>
> In 1929, the Manitowoc [Wis.] Herald News refers to local baseball manager
> "Eddie 'Haba Haba' Stumpf."  In 1932 its successor, the M. Herald-Times, is
> calls him "Old Hubba-Hubba."
> Which is sort of QED.
>
> GB reveals a "1925" ex. that I cannot verify, but which looks to have the
> right typography for the period: "Hug a little, snug a little, cuddle up to
> Dada, / Haba Haba, Ali Baba, Baboon Blues."  Note the "baboon" connection.
>
> GB also reveals a lone Cornish "Hubba! Hubba! Barely or blud!" in 1872, but
> I will leave that to others.  It or the Irish "Hubba hubba boo!" may lie
> behind Blitz's "haba haba!" but with such little attestation, they're
> probably merely coincidental.
>
> JL
>
>
>
>  On Mon, Nov 15, 2010 at 11:44 AM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
>  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: Hubba-hubba [Was: Aw, naw he di?n'!]
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Just as a point of reference, compare to the contemporary usage:
> >
> > "In Saawariya, it was definitely the minute his towel dropped - hubba
> > hubba."  http://bit.ly/drAR0y
> > "When you think of Ricky Martin, you probably think, "hubba, hubba!" The
> > former boy-band hunk of singing love is no longer just a pretty face and
> > vibrating glutes, he's also a deep and thoughtful author of a new
> > autobiography."  http://bit.ly/aFvqMP
> > "Now that I'm a bit older, I wish that Halloween came more often because
> > it means girls wear less clothing, there's lots of candy and because The
> > Office totally knows how to do a Halloween episode. Angela in a nurse
> > costume? Hubba hubba." http://bit.ly/bwW0yB
> >
> > Enough said.
> >
> > In the cartoon setting I mentioned earlier, it was an excited utterance
> > (followed by "N'yang-n'yang-n'yang-n'yang!"), but it had no sexual
> > connotation.
> >
> >     VS-)
> >
> > On 11/15/2010 9:37 AM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
> > > Not a definitive point, but ...
> > >
> > > http://bit.ly/dsURFW
> > > The Jacobite Relics of Scotland; Being the Songs, Airs, and Legends,
> > > of the Adherents of the House of Stuart. Collected by James Hogg.
> > > Edinburgh: 1819
> > > Appendix, Part II. Whig Songs. On Her Majesty's Coronation. p. 417
> > >> "Hubba hubba boo!" quoth the Irish dear joy,
> > >> "You must not by fighting our triumphs annoy ;
> > >> "For if you should cut a man in three or four halves,
> > >> "By my shoul, you'll ne'er cure him by balsam nor salves.
> > >
> > > The only other hit is from 1936 Fisherman's Handbook, vol. 3:
> > > "Hubba-Hubba spinner". If nothing else, it certainly confirms the
> > > 1930s (although no snippet appears in GB to match the text of the
> > > preview). http://bit.ly/ci1fQG
> >
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