First of all, it's "bubbeh" or "bubbe". It is not a homonym for "boobie", a familiar or casual name for "breast".
As I only realized when the Future of Fandom was learning to read, "o" is the "misc." of English vowels -- all kinds of different sounds are called "short o" or "long O". So to my ear, "book" and "hoof" have two different vowels, with "book" being closed to "hoop" while "hoof" is closer to "hup". "Woobie" is a bit ooo-ier than "book", though not as much as "hoop", while "w00t" is more like "hoot", or if anything ooo-ier.
it's not a homophone for the "breast" word at all, which is why i didn't give the dude-group pronunciation as an option on that question. but you'd be surprised how many people spell it that way, on the grounds that they spell the "long version" (which is actually a diminutive, so speaking of the other as being short for it is also not quite right) boobelah. wrong, wrong, wrong. but that's what happens when the yiddish words pervade the english language. ask any nebbish (correct spelling: nebech; correct pronunciation: nebekh).
so, yes, "bubbeh" or "bubbe" would be better; but either of these (especially the first) is likely to have the schwa-ending of "bubeleh", and i was interested in the high-front-vowel-ending of "bubbie" in particular.
what you describe as the "ooo-iness" of double-o vowels is indeed variable across and even within dialects. some of your variations may have something to do with the consonants following the vowels -- but i'd have to consider (a) a larger sample (b) at some hour other than 4:30 am. :-D
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As I only realized when the Future of Fandom was learning to read, "o" is the "misc." of English vowels -- all kinds of different sounds are called "short o" or "long O". So to my ear, "book" and "hoof" have two different vowels, with "book" being closed to "hoop" while "hoof" is closer to "hup". "Woobie" is a bit ooo-ier than "book", though not as much as "hoop", while "w00t" is more like "hoot", or if anything ooo-ier.
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so, yes, "bubbeh" or "bubbe" would be better; but either of these (especially the first) is likely to have the schwa-ending of "bubeleh", and i was interested in the high-front-vowel-ending of "bubbie" in particular.
what you describe as the "ooo-iness" of double-o vowels is indeed variable across and even within dialects. some of your variations may have something to do with the consonants following the vowels -- but i'd have to consider (a) a larger sample (b) at some hour other than 4:30 am. :-D
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