BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone

Subject: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: weerover
Date: 22 Dec 23 - 09:37 AM

I have heard "bubble" used as a slang term for a mobile 'phone and rie to make a connection (geddit?), for example via rhyming slang but can't figure it out. Any knowledge/theories/guesses?

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 22 Dec 23 - 09:53 AM

Bad pronunciation of 'mobile' as Mubble and then use a rhyme?

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Dec 23 - 10:01 AM

Bubble 'n squeak speak?

I'll get me coat...

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: weerover
Date: 22 Dec 23 - 10:38 AM

Thanks for trying, guys, and that "rie" in my first post should of course read "tried".

Subject: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 22 Dec 23 - 10:44 AM

Hubble, double, toil and trouble,
Ring the demon on the bubble.

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 Dec 23 - 11:24 AM

Doesn’t ‘bubble’ mean laugh in CRS - as in ‘bubble bath’ = laugh?

Never heard a mobile phone called a ‘bubble’, and regarding ‘tried’, no I don’t geddit.

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 Dec 23 - 11:25 AM

You need to hear ‘bubble Bath’ in a cockney accent…

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 22 Dec 23 - 12:13 PM

The nearest I can come to it is bubble and squeal for speak.

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Dec 23 - 12:18 PM

Oi, I said that!   :-)

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Dec 23 - 12:23 PM

There's that annoying speech bubble that text messages come in...

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Helen
Date: 22 Dec 23 - 01:02 PM

Backwoodsman, weerover said he tried to make a connection, i.e. a pun on a phone connection.

MaJoC the Filk - funny! Shakespeare re-imagined for modern times.

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 Dec 23 - 02:16 PM

Thanks H, that went straight over my head the first time! Duh! :-)

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Helen
Date: 22 Dec 23 - 02:22 PM

Well it went straight over mine initially, because I was trying to decipher the word "rie".

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 Dec 23 - 04:48 PM

:-) me too!

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 24 Dec 23 - 06:41 PM

> I have heard "bubble" used as a slang term for a mobile 'phone <

- Where?
- When?
- Age?
- Accent?
- Example of the sentence it was used in?

Any chance you could go back and ask ?? ;) ;) ;)

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Mr Red
Date: 25 Dec 23 - 03:58 AM

German slang for mobile phone is "handy"

And un coup de fil à la française

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: weerover
Date: 25 Dec 23 - 04:17 AM

It was a TV ad for some sort of protection system and a voice in the background kept repeating "protect your bubble".

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 25 Dec 23 - 04:24 AM

I suspect they meant ‘protect your circle of friends/contacts (your ‘bubble’)’ by using their protection system for your mobile, they weren’t talking about protecting the mobile itself.

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Mr Red
Date: 25 Dec 23 - 04:38 AM

or people overhearing your conversation.

Bubble here sounds like it is refering to the conversation not the "conversation piece". Is that the way the phone gets its moniker? Or is it actually the usage thereof that is the bubble? As in visual speech bubble?

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 29 Dec 23 - 07:56 PM

@ BWM, in CRS, I guess it would be bubble barf = larf, innit?

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 30 Dec 23 - 03:23 AM

Correct, Tattie.

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 30 Dec 23 - 04:53 AM

The trouble with rhyming slang is that there are so many interpretations:-

Bubble (and squeak) - Greek;
Bubble (bath) - laugh;
Bubble (gum) - chum;

to name but a few. Each person thinks that they have the correct one and the others are wrong.

I think that BWM has it right that, in this case, 'bubble' has nothing to do with the phone but refers to your private circle. This is similar to how it was used during the pandemic when single parents could form an exclusive bubble with a select small group for family support.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 30 Dec 23 - 05:12 AM

James Blunt - c... Oh, never mind...

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: BobL
Date: 30 Dec 23 - 10:53 AM

My late partner's extended family were not so much a bubble as a froth...

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: gillymor
Date: 30 Dec 23 - 11:05 AM

Here ya go- What does BUBBLE mean?

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Thompson
Date: 06 Jan 24 - 02:03 AM

I'm told that the German 'handy' for a mobile phone comes from US soldiers' handheld walkie-talkies.

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 06 Jan 24 - 04:10 AM

@Gillymor - yep, that supports what I said in my post back on Christmas Day…

”I suspect they meant ‘protect your circle of friends/contacts (your ‘bubble’)’ by using their protection system for your mobile, they weren’t talking about protecting the mobile itself.”

Subject: RE: BS: bubble slang for mobile 'phone
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 06 Jan 24 - 07:16 PM

weerover
If you are in the UK could it have been an advert for this insurance agent?

Protect Your Bubble is a trading name of Assurant Direct Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (registration company number 5399683). Registered address, Emerald Buildings, Westmere Drive, Crewe, Cheshire, CW1 6UN.
www.protectyourbubble.com/sitemap

Seems to be aimed at students.   Policies for renters, for phones, for gadgets,,, student discounts

It does have a FAQ page
but I see no mention of how it chose its name ;)