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Original poster

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?

OP posts:
LadyAddle · 20/07/2026 07:01

In the 50s I wore both Chilpruf vests and liberty bodices - wool and rather scratchy. The liberty bodices had little rubber buttons, which I think were meant to attach to nether garments - I have a vague idea they liberated one from suspenders but might be wrong. Fortunately my mother drew the line at using the buttons.

DistantEarlyWarning · 20/07/2026 06:58

DoAWheelie · 20/07/2026 06:24

No, it was a clothing item. The book is american and written in the 1870s.

Edited
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Oh wow! I just believed what my teacher told us (not in the context of What Katy Did though). Every day is a school day, thank you!

Ceramiq · 20/07/2026 06:48

My grandmother, born in 1906, who lived for a good part of her life in the same Sussex/Kent border area as the semi-fictional Home Place, always said that Elizabeth Jane Howard was extraordinarily talented at recalling period details in the Cazalet Chronicles. My grandmother's recollections of local shops, recipes that graced family tables etc were reflected very accurately.

JoJuniorShabadoo · 20/07/2026 06:34

Baked beans Lolol

Piggywaspushed · 20/07/2026 06:34

Indian rubbers are shoes - like galoshes.

I remember this from What Katy Did!

My childhood reading is the only reason I know what galoshes are!

I have never , however, really known what a Liberty bodice is.

DoAWheelie · 20/07/2026 06:24

DistantEarlyWarning · 20/07/2026 06:10

Erasers, for removing pencil marks. We always called them rubbers when I was at school in the 1970s.

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No, it was a clothing item. The book is american and written in the 1870s.

DistantEarlyWarning · 20/07/2026 06:10

DoAWheelie · 20/07/2026 06:02

I had a similar confusion a few years ago when re-reading "What Katy Did" and they talk about needing to buy new India Rubbers. Still no clue what they are!

Erasers, for removing pencil marks. We always called them rubbers when I was at school in the 1970s.

DoAWheelie · 20/07/2026 06:02

I had a similar confusion a few years ago when re-reading "What Katy Did" and they talk about needing to buy new India Rubbers. Still no clue what they are!

IsadoraQuagmire · 19/07/2026 11:49

I would have immediately read that as bust bodices.

YellowRoom · 19/07/2026 10:13

Hamela · 19/07/2026 10:03

😂 I'm feeling incredibly stupid! I rushed off googling before I'd properly read the op, didn't spot London, that'll learn me haha!

Also a sobering reminder that Google seems to be totally random nowadays too. No replacement for people's actual memories or experiences. Scary how inaccurate its getting with the rise of AI stating things so confidently and "factually".

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I love you - you've made my day. I told DD that in a few years i'll be going on the traditional trip to London to buy baked beans to mark her first steps into womanhood.

MonsterSister · 19/07/2026 10:09

You've reminded me to ask my father again about the terms used by his factory-working parents (we found some oddities on Ancestry for occupations, and he knew what they were when Google didn't).

Original poster
EllieQ · 19/07/2026 10:08

Thank you everyone! I’d heard of Liberty Bodices, but not that they were also called bust bodices - mystery solved 😊

OP posts:
TressiliansStone · 19/07/2026 10:07

Stanislas · 19/07/2026 09:51

Logging on To mumsnet this morning was totally worthwhile. 😁 I had a passed on from cousin liberty bodice as a small child. Only wore it once. Tiny buttons and stiflingly hot.

Yes! Thank you for this thread!

Hamela · 19/07/2026 10:03

YellowRoom · 19/07/2026 09:51

Thank you for this - I've cried laughing at the thought of going on a special shopping trip to London to purchase baked beans for the teen girls.

😂 I'm feeling incredibly stupid! I rushed off googling before I'd properly read the op, didn't spot London, that'll learn me haha!

Also a sobering reminder that Google seems to be totally random nowadays too. No replacement for people's actual memories or experiences. Scary how inaccurate its getting with the rise of AI stating things so confidently and "factually".

Stanislas · 19/07/2026 09:51

Logging on To mumsnet this morning was totally worthwhile. 😁 I had a passed on from cousin liberty bodice as a small child. Only wore it once. Tiny buttons and stiflingly hot.

YellowRoom · 19/07/2026 09:51

Thank you for this - I've cried laughing at the thought of going on a special shopping trip to London to purchase baked beans for the teen girls.

Hamela · 19/07/2026 09:47

DeeplyUnlikely · 19/07/2026 09:46

But not in this context. No one needs to travel to London to buy baked beans, nor would they be buying them solely for teenage girls.

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Sorry yes slow reading/typing this morning, cross posted with you

Hamela · 19/07/2026 09:46

...but beans seem a bit strange to go on a shopping trip to London for 😂 I also think bodices/bras.

MonsterSister · 19/07/2026 09:46

Never mind Google and its baked beans. I can quote you my grandmother and mother on this one, and they used it for a bodice.

DeeplyUnlikely · 19/07/2026 09:46

Hamela · 19/07/2026 09:44

I googled.. Abbreviations for grocery items in the forties. Apparently tinned goods were often abbreviated by grocers when dealing out rations. BBs seems to mean baked beans.

But not in this context. No one needs to travel to London to buy baked beans, nor would they be buying them solely for teenage girls.

DeeplyUnlikely · 19/07/2026 09:44

Yes, bust bodices, hence the slightly coy euphemism.

Hamela · 19/07/2026 09:44

I googled.. Abbreviations for grocery items in the forties. Apparently tinned goods were often abbreviated by grocers when dealing out rations. BBs seems to mean baked beans.

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.

Mischance · 19/07/2026 09:42

Bras

itsanamething · 19/07/2026 09:41

itsanamething · 19/07/2026 09:37

I'm wondering if it's a short form for a liberty bodice.

Just read "...were affectionately—and sometimes mockingly—referred to as "BBs," short for British Bodices. However, the official brand name was always the Liberty Bodice."