About twelve or thirteen years ago...
when I was still at school in Huddersfield, me and a mate were making up new words- this was something to do in those long periods when the teachers disappeared to do paperwork/take antidepressants/screw the art teacher or something else that was deemed more important than teaching. One of us, I can't remember if it was me or him, came up with the word 'bab'.

We both found it extremely funny- a more comic version of the same thing as both 'crap' and 'shit'. We began using it in general conversation- "that's bab", or "you're a babstain". It began to be used by other kids at our school- a whole new swearword to add to our limited vocabulary. Then other people started to use it. As time went on, when I began to meet people make friends from further afield (like Halifax or Leeds, etc), they'd sometimes say 'bab'. And I occasionally hear people say it now, even though I now live in Aberystwyth and the people who say it have never been to Yorkshire. Is that cool or wot?

Well probably not, no. But if any celebrity ever says "bab" on TV, this will be our claim to fame...
(fourplusone, Sun 1 Feb 2004, 21:47, Reply)