Dubbah, Dubber, Dubba or W?

Had heard someone called Dubbah in Ohio, but never quite heard someone say "You're a Dubbah" until I came to New England, think Uncle Kev was the 1st one I heard say it. Remember in grade school calling someone "Num Nuts" or "Nimrod".

Here's an article that describes the history of Dubbah.

Excerpt from The New Hampshire Gazette, The Nation's Oldest Newspaper. Vol 248, No 12, March 12, 2004

“W”? Or “Dubbah?”
To the Editor:
It occurred to me recently that Bush’s nickname, ‘W’, sounds a lot like what the kids in town used to call each other derogatively back in the late 50’s when I first moved up here. ‘Dubbah’ used to mean what now might be ‘dufus’ [for ‘somewhat cerebrally challenged’]. So I propose to you that, in keeping with the New Hampshire tradition, we change the pronunciation of ‘W’ to ‘Dubbah.’ I certainly think it fits, phonetically and literally.
Ed Batjer
Chester, NH


Ed,
Your etymological excursion into the dustbin of history reminds us of Paul Scruton. Who wrote a column for the Hillsboro (NH) Messenger. “On the Street,” it was called. We seem to remember it ran for thirty years or more. His tenure and the editor’s overlapped by a year or so, a disturbing thought when you realize that Paul served in the US Army in France during the Great War, tending steam locomotives.

Paul was of the old school, quite literally. He went to school with Jack P.H. Chandler, who used to cut a significant figure in New Hampshire politics. Paul said that in school, the kids said the “P.H.” stood for ‘Pecker Head.’ Paul, who was almost translucent in the right light, and smelled faintly of lavender, always colored up a little when someone used the expression ‘dubbah.’ He was too much the gentleman to approve of language that carried an implication of onanism.

Yours in hopes of an eventual democracy,
The Ed.