# Bush == Dubya? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 24, 2001, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-dubya/89378 "2001-10-24T20:29:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![robo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@robo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robo)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-dubya/89378/1 "2001-10-24T20:29:23Z")
Why do the Brits call President Bush, Dubya? ---
**Author:** ![lno](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a8b319/32.png) [@lno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lno)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-dubya/89378/2 "2001-10-24T20:30:36Z")
Dubya = W. (double-u.) His middle initial is W. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-dubya/89378/3 "2001-10-24T20:34:43Z")
And it is hardly a “Britishism.” Lots of folks, foes and (political) friends, refer to him that way (although less so in the past month and a half). ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-dubya/89378/4 "2001-10-24T20:38:03Z")
“Dub-ya” is Texan for “double-u.” He’s been called that at least since his first run for Texas governor back in '94, to distinguish him from his father. ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-dubya/89378/5 "2001-10-24T20:47:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OxyMoron \* > **"Dub-ya" is Texan for "double-u."** Actually most Texans I know use “Dub” or “Shrub” (little bush), depending on whether they like him or not, respectively. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2001, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-dubya/89378/6 "2001-10-24T21:53:22Z")
Until the 2000, he was also known as Junior. Since the campaign began, though, some Bush supporters seemed to take that nickname as an insult. ---
**Author:** ![Bob\_Scene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19adc/32.png) [@Bob\_Scene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bob_Scene)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-dubya/89378/7 "2001-10-25T03:59:49Z")
I’ve always associated the derogatory Bush nicknames with Molly Ivins. Is that justified? Did she start calling him Shrub or is it just my imagination? ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-dubya/89378/8 "2001-10-25T04:18:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bob Scene \* > \*\*I’ve always associated the derogatory Bush nicknames with Molly Ivins. Is that justified? Did she start calling him Shrub or is it just my imagination? \*\* I hear it from a lot of yellow-dog Democrats in Texas. I’d be more inclined to believe Ms. Ivins picked it up from the crowd, but I don’t have a cite either way. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-dubya/89378/9 "2001-10-25T07:49:39Z")
Molly Ivins did indeed coin the “Shrub” nickname for Bush Jr. She also has recently coauthored a book entitled Shrub. She also uses Dubya often (anything, I guess, to avoid his actual name). ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-dubya/89378/10 "2001-10-25T12:53:22Z")
robo, the dopers are just pulling your leg. Dubya is an old Texas expression that heavy drinkers would use. Like…you are having a beer, I’ll show you and have two - so I’ll doubleya…or to make it part of his name, we clean it up and make it Dubya…kind of like a drunken slur…“Dubya”. ---
**Author:** ![jonfromdenver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/82dd89/32.png) [@jonfromdenver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jonfromdenver)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-dubya/89378/11 "2001-10-25T14:28:03Z")
dubya? i just call him dumbass… ---
**Author:** ![TheeGrumpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/779978/32.png) [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2001, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-dubya/89378/12 "2001-10-25T23:10:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Captain Amazing \* > \*\*Until the 2000, he was also known as Junior. Since the campaign began, though, some Bush supporters seemed to take that nickname as an insult. \*\* If Bush supporters took offense, it’s because “Junior” is inaccurate. George Walker Bush does not share the same name as his father, George Herbert Walker Bush. Before he became the GOP frontrunner in, gosh, late 1999, nobody cared enough to be accurate. Then everyone learned quickly. And stop calling me “Quincy!”