Busha and JaJa

surely any Pole who immigrated would know that jaja is not a term of endearment??

I just asked my husband about the Busia thing. He has never heard it in Canada, or at least the city we are from and he was pretty active in the Polish community there.

I was going to mention that but didn't feel confident enough in my Polish!

This was explained in post #7 of this thread. It's pretty obvious that a Polish-American who cannot write in Polish will simply write the word "dziadzia" by using the closest English spelling which in this case would be "jaja".


Ludzie, na miłość boską, nie ma o co bić piany!

Never heard of retro? The popcommecialists every so often also ressurrect dances, concerts, happenings, etc. based on the roaring 20s, 30s, 50s, 70s, even 90s.

My Busha, as all her grandchildren called her, emigrated from near Krakow, Poland to Chgo. --without staying/living anywhere else. So, obviously she learned this term in one of those 2 places.

By the way, all of my friends of Polish descent in Chicago called their grandmothers "Busha". And Chicago has the largest Polish population in the world outside of Warsaw, Poland.

What about JaJa ?

Jajas are balls.
Or eggs.
Or as in: " ale jaja"

I'm very proud of my Polish heritage Busha and JaJa were my grandparents and I'm 90% luckier than most to have them in my life I will never stand down I'm proud to be Polish

Lis,right on :)

Jaja was you grandfather? you really need to have jaja (balls) to admit to that.

I think she meant dziadzia, a form of dziadzuś that babies use. It means grandpa.
I have never heard of busia. I think she meant babusia.

If you're proud of it, you'll stop using incorrect Polish and start using correct Polish, right?

when my son was a baby, he started calling my mother "Babie", and it stuck. Although he knows that this is not a Polish word for grandma, some of his friends now think that it is.

I believe that some grandmothers might have taken similar shortcuts, but most likely it was outside Poland proper, as I have never heard that word in Poland. ;)

My thoughts exactly.

I live in Chicago. I called my grandparents Nani & Papa. My grandmother's mother and father were called Busha and JaJa. Well actually it was Little Busha and her mother was Big Busha because of the size difference, supposedly. Not sure of the spellings, but this seems to be a thing in the polish community.

I wonder where did that come from, how did that start

I called my great grandmother Busha. My grandparents were mamaw and jaja. Don't know what difference Busha vs Mamaw.

why?


We either, they are both not Polish.

Dźadźa is Polish.
Busha is babusia that is missing its first sylable.

No. It is not even possible to pronounce it the way you wrote it.


and what is babusia?

What I gather from your reply, Wulkan, is that you were not raised in Poland, especially not with your grandparents close by. Polish does not seem to be your first language, either.

You have drawn wrong conclusion. I would be familiar with it if I was risen in USA where all the "jaja" and "busha" bs comes from. It's explained on this site many times before.

I think this busha bussiness is a perfect example how Polish language gets convoluted by second generation immigrants.
BTW, you're right, I probably spelled dźadźa wrong. I think it's dziadzia, or in its more popular use in Poland: dziadzio.

correct


correct

Stannon caled her Busha because the surname of his great grandpa was probably Bush. Who knows? - maybe Stannon's family was that Bush family!

Anyway, that's my two cents to the discussion!

My great grandparents came to Chicago around 1860. My great grandmother was always called Busha (phoentically spelled).
Given all the evidence of Polish ladies being called Busha in varying locations in the US, it only stands to reason that this came from Poland. Especially because my whole family, including mother, spoke Polish. Why make up a word?

I sure enjoyed reading this thread.

I was born in Poland and my parents and grand parents were also born in Poland and spent there their entire lives and nor me nor them have ever heard that "busha" word so it must be some Polish-American slang.


I don't know you live there so you ask them and tell us.

Wulkan, what you say is interesting. It probably isn't American slang any more than words like "gotten" are slang. "Gotten" is used over there, was current in England During a period when people were emigrating to the U.S. and is not used now. This 'busha' thing (busia would be better really) probably comes from babusia. Not used so much now, but perhaps curret in parts of Poland at the time of mass emigration and still used as a family word by some Americans whose ancestors were Polish.

But yes, I've never, ever heard it used in Polish.

I knew this topic would sooner or later emerge on the PF again (it is one of the most favourite topics here), so it is worthwhile to quote what the more serious Polish-Americans have to say about it:

Here's the link to this website: ampoleagle.com/busia-or-babcia-ongoing-controversy-p4400-125.htm

And here is the most essential part of that article:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The authoritative multi-volume Słownik Języka Polskiego (dictionary) of Karłowicz, Kryński and Niedźwiedzki (Warsaw, 1905) lists the following forms: babka, babcia, babciutka, babeczka, babusia, babuś, babuchna, babunia, babuńcia, babuleńka and babulinka.The busia version is not among them.

That means that busia is a strictly Polish-American term part of an indigenous Polonian culture like polka music which is unknown in Poland. Nobody knows when, where and why the first American with Polish immigrant roots uttered the word busia. It could have originated as baby talk by someone too young to say babusia, one of the forms listed above. Whatever the case, it somehow caught on and can now be heard from the Eastern Seaboard to the West Coast, from the northern states down into Florida, Texas and the southwest.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In my view, this is a very accurate and competent explanation. Notice that it evokes a rather old dictionary which means that even in the 19th century the word "busia" was unknown in Poland (I also doubt that it was known earlier). If the PF wants to continue to rant about "busia" for ages, that's their choice, but I am sure nothing more could have ever be disclosed on the subject.

My dad was born in Pennsylvania in 1914; my grandparents came here from Poland (and never spoke English). Although they both passed when I was very young, I addressed them as Busha and Jaja. If I spelled these names incorrectly, I apologize. If calling my grandparents by these names makes me subject to ridicule, I have no idea why. Thanks.