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Meaning of abbreviation ‘BBs’ in a 1940s Book

107 replies

EllieQ · 19/07/2026 09:34

I’m reading Confusion by Elizabeth Jane Howard, which is set during WW2, and was puzzled by the abbreviation ‘BBs’ in a scene where one of the characters is thinking about the usual shopping list she would have for a trip to to London - the line is ‘BBs for Clary and Polly’ who are teenage girls.

Google hasn’t helped as I’ve just got results for Bulletin Board Services (know as BBS) or the BBC. I’m assuming it’s something underwear or toiletry related, but can’t figure it out! Does anyone have any idea what it could stand for?

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upinaballoon · 02/08/2026 22:09

ClaudiaNaughton · 01/08/2026 22:53

I remember wearing a liberty bodice over a vest in winter. Milk of Magnesia is still around. Does anyone remember Gregory’s Powder (foul)? Or children’s orange flavoured aspirin. Beechams pills (worth a guinea a box)!

I certainly wore a liberty bodice over a vest in winter. I don't remember Gregory's Powder. I knew a girl who used to lie to her mother about headaches because she liked the taste of the fruity aspirins.

upinaballoon · 02/08/2026 22:06

Ceramiq · 20/07/2026 08:22

Oh yes, my mother and aunt would talk about STs and "the curse" and it made me cringe! Another cringy outdated euphemism was "spend a penny".

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Don't come near me. I still say 'spend a penny' sometimes. You had to put a penny in the slot on the lavatories in public places. There's nothing to cringe about. STs can be sanitary towels as well as stocking tops.

ClaudiaNaughton · 01/08/2026 22:53

I remember wearing a liberty bodice over a vest in winter. Milk of Magnesia is still around. Does anyone remember Gregory’s Powder (foul)? Or children’s orange flavoured aspirin. Beechams pills (worth a guinea a box)!

upinaballoon · 01/08/2026 13:19

borntobequiet · 31/07/2026 14:07

It was the pen name of the author of The Little Grey Men, a children’s book about gnomes set in Warwickshire, I enjoyed it and I think its companion books as a child.

Cross post!

Edited
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I came across it on a bookshelf of my aunts. I expect one of them bought it in the 1940s or 50s.

QuaintBeaker · 31/07/2026 19:30

borntobequiet · 31/07/2026 14:07

It was the pen name of the author of The Little Grey Men, a children’s book about gnomes set in Warwickshire, I enjoyed it and I think its companion books as a child.

Cross post!

Edited
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Omg I had totally forgotten about the little grey men!

borntobequiet · 31/07/2026 14:07

upinaballoon · 31/07/2026 13:55

Haven't read all of this short thread. Why do I think that BB was an author? I am going to google.

It was the pen name of the author of The Little Grey Men, a children’s book about gnomes set in Warwickshire, I enjoyed it and I think its companion books as a child.

Cross post!

upinaballoon · 31/07/2026 14:03

Denys James Watkins-Pitchford MBE was an English naturalist, artist and author under the pen name 'BB'. He won the 1942 Carnegie Medal for 'The Little Grey Men'.

upinaballoon · 31/07/2026 13:55

Haven't read all of this short thread. Why do I think that BB was an author? I am going to google.

mylifeisexams · 25/07/2026 23:17

Thanks for this thread ❤️

magimedi · 25/07/2026 21:24

ChessieFL · 25/07/2026 19:26

For the Cazalet fans on this thread there is a further Cazalet book coming out in September, written by EJH’s niece Louisa Young. It’s called The Golden Hours and is set in the early Sixties.

Will be looking out for that - might have to re-read the others first.

magimedi · 25/07/2026 21:23

Child of the 1950's - I had whisky rubbed on my gums when I was teething!! Loathe the stuff now.

Abidec drops in my breakfast milk in the winter - vitamin D I think.

Never wore a liberty bodice but remember the vile, scratchy chilprufe vests.

suburburban · 25/07/2026 20:45

ChessieFL · 25/07/2026 19:26

For the Cazalet fans on this thread there is a further Cazalet book coming out in September, written by EJH’s niece Louisa Young. It’s called The Golden Hours and is set in the early Sixties.

thanks sounds great

HoppityBun · 25/07/2026 19:35

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 20/07/2026 19:22

We had Disprin dissolved in milk. Yuk. We also occasionally had Milk of Magnolia. Can't remember what that was supposed to sort out, but I rather liked it. In my very early childhood rosehip syrup was handed out at baby clinics. I think it was a concentrated source of Vitamin C but it was very sweet indeed, which may have wiped out the health benefits, especially given the lack of fluoride in the water and toothpaste back then.

I remember we had orange juice from the clinic. I’ve often wondered about the effect of the sugar on the vitamin C in rosehip syrup but rose hips were collected in the ear for the vitamin C and made into syrup.

My mother bought kaolin and morphine when we were little. Apparently if you didn’t shake it up to mix the two together, you could drain off the morphine. I’d like to have given that a go, if I’d known.

Also baby gripe water contained alcohol and I definitely was given that

ChessieFL · 25/07/2026 19:26

For the Cazalet fans on this thread there is a further Cazalet book coming out in September, written by EJH’s niece Louisa Young. It’s called The Golden Hours and is set in the early Sixties.

clary · 20/07/2026 22:05

Shangrilalala · 20/07/2026 22:02

As a coincidence, I was reading this thread last night as I am currently enjoying the last in the Cazelet Chronicles - All Change.

Only a few hours later l had to plunge into some research when two of the characters were being served by a ‘nippy’. I could not fathom the meaning at all. Turns out that a nippy was the title given to the waitresses in Lyon’s who were dressed in black uniforms with white aprons and headgear. They were typically dainty and had to ‘nip’ around the tea room at pace.

I am reluctant to finish reading the series; I’ve loved how EJH has transported me to a bygone era and widened my mid century vocabulary at the same time!

Ah yes those of us who are fans of the Cazalets and also DLS will know this thanks to Unnatural Death.

I must reread these as it's year since I looked at them.

Shangrilalala · 20/07/2026 22:02

As a coincidence, I was reading this thread last night as I am currently enjoying the last in the Cazelet Chronicles - All Change.

Only a few hours later l had to plunge into some research when two of the characters were being served by a ‘nippy’. I could not fathom the meaning at all. Turns out that a nippy was the title given to the waitresses in Lyon’s who were dressed in black uniforms with white aprons and headgear. They were typically dainty and had to ‘nip’ around the tea room at pace.

I am reluctant to finish reading the series; I’ve loved how EJH has transported me to a bygone era and widened my mid century vocabulary at the same time!

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 20/07/2026 19:52

Grin Oops. Yes, Milk of Magnesia. Lovely blue bottle.

MonsterSister · 20/07/2026 19:24

Milk of Magnesia, I do hope?

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 20/07/2026 19:22

We had Disprin dissolved in milk. Yuk. We also occasionally had Milk of Magnolia. Can't remember what that was supposed to sort out, but I rather liked it. In my very early childhood rosehip syrup was handed out at baby clinics. I think it was a concentrated source of Vitamin C but it was very sweet indeed, which may have wiped out the health benefits, especially given the lack of fluoride in the water and toothpaste back then.

clary · 20/07/2026 19:16

HilaryThorpe2 · 20/07/2026 18:54

No he chose a different lady writer - but as for the emeralds.....

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Haha love it! My dad was a bell ringer and a DLS fan as well so he loved that one.

I’ve considered changing my username to EilunedPrice actually but I’ve been Clary for a long time.

LadyAddle · 20/07/2026 19:14

Yellowpapersun · 20/07/2026 18:22

I had a vest and a liberty bodice on top. It was made out of fuzzy material, a bit like tumble drier fluff, with the rubber buttons that pinged up my nose when mum pulled it over my head. I think it was because of the general lack of heating in the 60s- we didn't have central heating at home or school. I hated my liberty bodice and have a vague memory of a battle of wills between mum and me when I didn't want to wear it. I'm sure I'd stopped wearing one by junior school.

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I’m sure you’re right about the lack of heating in 50s and 60s being a factor in being forced into liberty bodices and vests. I think it could have been the limited range of effective medicines too, though - my family had lost a young relative to an illness which antibiotics would have sorted out nowadays, so they were really hot on prevention and days in bed if we did go down with anything. I only remember penicillin as a child, and aspirin ground up in honey.

HilaryThorpe2 · 20/07/2026 18:54

DeeplyUnlikely · 20/07/2026 18:19

And did you grow up to be strikingly beautiful and a genius writer? What did you and Peter decide to do with those pesky emeralds in the end?

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No he chose a different lady writer - but as for the emeralds.....

BillieWiper · 20/07/2026 18:23

QuaintBeaker · 19/07/2026 09:37

Chat gpt gives the following suggestion

"Interestingly, this abbreviation isn't widely recognized today, but it has been specifically noted by lexicographers because of this very passage from Confusion. R. W. Holder's Dictionary of Euphemisms quotes the shopping list:

"...Start-rite shoes for Wills and Rory, summer vest for Aunt Dolly, esoteric haberdashery for the Duchy... BBs for Clary and Polly."

and glosses "BBs" as bust bodices."

Hmmm. I wouldn't necessarily believe that.

Yellowpapersun · 20/07/2026 18:22

Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g · 19/07/2026 09:44

I must ask my Mum next time I see her but I think in my early childhood (early 1960s) I wore a liberty bodice. I have a dim memory of fiddly buttons. Goodness knows why anybody would make dressing young children harder than it needs to be!

Edited to add I see rubber buttons were indeed a feature of the Liberty Bodice. That's what I remember. How very odd. I had ordinary vests later in childhood, thank goodness.

Edited

I had a vest and a liberty bodice on top. It was made out of fuzzy material, a bit like tumble drier fluff, with the rubber buttons that pinged up my nose when mum pulled it over my head. I think it was because of the general lack of heating in the 60s- we didn't have central heating at home or school. I hated my liberty bodice and have a vague memory of a battle of wills between mum and me when I didn't want to wear it. I'm sure I'd stopped wearing one by junior school.

DeeplyUnlikely · 20/07/2026 18:19

HilaryThorpe2 · 20/07/2026 16:38

Absolutely DLS fan! I love the Cazalets too. There was a wonderful TV adaptation of Something in Disguise in the 1960s. I would love to see it again, but have never been able to find it. EJH's life had a lot of sadness.

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And did you grow up to be strikingly beautiful and a genius writer? What did you and Peter decide to do with those pesky emeralds in the end?

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