# How did "Baby" become the most popular word in pop music? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623 "2011-07-11T14:07:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/41 "2012-01-24T02:57:35Z")
> [@Clearpupil](#): > > Origin in pop is in Arabic music which uses “beeby” imported via slavery to the USA meaning ‘my beloved’ -\> blues -\> rock -\> pop. No change since. Actually the word baby entered English in 14c. from Spanish ‘bebe’ also from Arabic ‘beeby’ lyrical form for ‘my beloved’. 🆒 The Arabic word is _habibi_ (transliteration) and is masculine. The feminine form is _habibti_. I do not know what forms were used earlier. I am unfamiliar with the general history of English words borrowed from Arabic but this seems like a stretch. \*Habibi \*is easy for English speakers to hear and pronounce so would require an awful lot of corruption to become _baby_. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/42 "2012-01-24T03:12:01Z")
_“Baby, baby, baby! Ah-ah-ah!”_–Jet Screamer, 2062 ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/43 "2012-01-24T03:24:01Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Because it’s easy to rhyme? > > And, hey Mod, wouldn’t this go better in Cafe Society? Maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/43a26b/32.png) [@Pine\_Fresh\_Scent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pine_Fresh_Scent)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/44 "2012-01-24T04:32:41Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Old joke: > > Q: How do you change an R&B song to gospel? > A: Everywhere they sing “baby” change it to “Jesus” > > 🙂 Don’t you remember you told me you loved me Jesus? You said you’d be coming back this way again, Jesus Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, oh Jesus I love you, I really do ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/45 "2012-01-24T04:39:27Z")
> [@threemae](#): > > Bieber played a big part of it. He was the first to have a hit solely consisting of the word baby and grunts ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/46 "2012-01-24T05:52:42Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > That’s _trochaic._ Iambic quadrameter would be a-ONE a-TWO a-THREE a-FOUR.“Honey” is in fact pronounced as a trochee in many instances. I would consider “huh-NEE” to be nonstandard, though at least few people would really think you were talking about bee food. Not quite rock, but certainly pop: ABBA - Honey, Honey [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySWT1tFTSrc](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySWT1tFTSrc) Kirsty MacColl - In These Shoes [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjvaqVAFuLI](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjvaqVAFuLI) The Archies - Sugar, Sugar [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQiwqiPeLGk&feature=fvst](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQiwqiPeLGk&feature=fvst) Honey songs are pretty thin on the ground though. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/47 "2012-01-24T13:13:08Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > \*Habibi \*is easy for English speakers to hear and pronounce so would require an awful lot of corruption to become _baby_. As I understand it, \*habibi \*often turns into _h’bibi_. [Example](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X80Nw9yR2Sc&feature=related). Or perhaps it’s just a different transliteration standard. The word I often hear in pop songs in Arabic is not pronounced hah-bee-bee, but more like HHH-bi-bee, very throaty. It wouldn’t be too far fetched for Anglo speakers to drop the h over time. Might be a Kabyle or Berber specificity though, I wouldn’t know about these things. That being said, yeah, it’s a \*really \*far-fetched theory, because black slaves transported across the pond did not speak Arabic to begin with, nevermind singing Arabic songs. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/48 "2012-01-24T16:30:59Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Could be worse, Chevalier seemed distinctly uncomfortable singing “Thank Heaven for Little Girls”. Well yes, but in that song it is not a diminutive. He is singing about actual little girls and how it a good thing that they exist because that is where women come from: “they grow up in the most delightful way”. The song is still very creepy, however, in at least three ways:[ol] [li]The well signaled literal meaning is still not enough to dispel the strong whiff of pedophilia;[/li][li]The actual story from which it comes is about a young girl who is being deliberately raised to take up a career as a prostitute (I don’t know how this was handled in the musical from which the song comes, which I have never seen - could _Gigi_ still be a hit today? - but it is clear enough in the original story);[/li][li] The closing line, “without them, what would little boys do?”, if taken literally implies lust amongst children; if taken metaphorically (little boys means those little boys when they are grown up) it gets you back to that pedophilia thing.[/li][/ol] I do not know if Chevalier was actually uncomfortable singing it, but he had reason to be. As my list has three items, greeting to Opal are not obligatory. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/49 "2012-01-24T17:25:22Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > …As my list has three items, greeting to Opal are not obligatory. It doesn’t cost anything to be polite, baby. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/50 "2012-02-02T09:29:25Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > _“Baby, baby, baby! Ah-ah-ah!”_–Jet Screamer, 2062 He’s a dreamer, dreamer, dreamer! ---
**Author:** ![Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Sophistry\_and\_Illusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sophistry_and_Illusion)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/51 "2012-02-02T10:30:49Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2012, 11:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623/52 "2012-02-02T11:01:12Z")
[Baby, baby, baby, baby, oh, baby.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=EezQX8_QPRQ#t=73s) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-baby-become-the-most-popular-word-in-pop-music/588623.md?page=2)