Newby Last Name

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hi, this is Beth from Bernie, Texas.

That’s near San Antonio.

Hello, Beth.

I’m curious about the term newbie.

It used to mean a novice or a beginner

Because my last name is newbie,

And I get teased about it fairly frequently.

So I just wonder where it came from.

I believe it was first used in the military,

And now it’s more like in the tech world.

Mm—

Mm—

Yeah, that’s right.

So if you’re a newbie, you’re a greenhorn.

Right? Right. A beginner. And is it N-E-W-B-Y? My last name, yeah. I believe it’s a fairly

Commonplace name in England. Yeah, is it Scots or something? I don’t know. Yeah, part Scots, yeah.

Yeah, Newbie does originally start in the military, probably first appeared commonly during the

Vietnam War, and it starts to show up in newspapers and books and the like at the late 60s and early

70s. It’s just really a standard abbreviation for, or a standard kind of shorthand way for

New person. So you’re a newbie. These days, of course, most of the people who are online

Are too young. Many of the people who are young online think it’s an online gaming term,

But it’s much older than that. Online, it tends to be abbreviated to noob and spelled

N-0-0-B or N-O-O-B.

So Beth, I’m curious, when you introduce yourself and you say, I’m Beth Newbie, what do people

Say to you? Oh, they just kind of joke

And they say, well, are you one?

Which is kind of curious

Because I’m a nurse and you probably

Don’t want your nurse to be a newbie.

You don’t want your nurse to be a newbie?

Oh my gosh. Have you ever thought of

Just pronouncing it differently, saying new-bye?

No, no, I never thought of that.

Or noy-bye. Noy-bye, yeah.

And do you laugh?

Are you tired of the jokes at this point?

No, I usually laugh. I try to keep

A good theme about it.

It’s sort of like going up to a tall person and saying,

You’re tall, you know?

Right, right.

I know, I know.

Have you thought about playing basketball?

Have you thought about playing basketball?

Yeah, exactly.

So, yeah, we just wondered if you’re tired of the jokes or…

Yeah, because there’s something about that first impulse that people have

To say the really obvious thing, and a lot of us, I do this sometimes,

You can’t choke it back, right?

You know it’s the thing that everyone says, absolutely everyone.

Your name is Newby!

That means greenhorn!

That’s funny.

You know you should not say it, but you do anyway.

Why can’t we refrain?

Anyway.

Just giving in to the obvious, I guess.

What’s the weather like up there?

All that stuff.

Well, Beth, I say keep up the good work.

And, you know, I mean, give the patients a laugh.

I think you should hang on to that name.

I love it.

I want to be a newbie at something every point in my life.

You know what you should say?

Yes, and today’s my first day.

Where do I put the needle?

There you go.

There you go.

I like that.

Oh, there you go.

That’s good.

I’ll try that.

Yeah, definitely.

Yeah, insert a little Grant humor in there.

I think that’ll work.

All right.

Well, I hope we’ve helped a little bit.

Yes.

Fun talking with you.

Very interesting.

Thank you.

Take care.

Go forth and nurse with pride.

Thank you, Beth.

Yeah.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

Oh, I don’t think she had your sarcastic sense of humor, Grant.

No, she got it.

She just understood it.

It wasn’t funny.

No, I love it.

I love it.

And I love the idea of being a newbie at every point in your life.

You know, I’ve taken up new things like juggling and rowing and learning other languages.

I think it keeps you young.

Well, who makes fun of your name?

Give us a call and we’ll help you work it out.

We’ll make you feel a little bit better about it.

1-877-929-9673.

Or send your questions about slang to words@waywordradio.org.