I just made a doobie

July 6, 2010 1:49 PM

"I apologized like a good doobie". "What?"

A friend used the phrase "I apologized like a good doobie". I've never heard of it before nor can I find any references online. But she claims it's a common saying that she's heard multiple times. Is this a real saying and if so is there any information on where it originated?

posted by Green With You to Society & Culture (13 answers total)

My mom (born and raised on Long Island, NY) uses this phrase. It means "person who does the right thing".
posted by amethysts at 1:50 PM on July 6, 2010

Not doobie, but do-bee. The worker bee, that does the doing. I've heard it before.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:51 PM on July 6, 2010 [2 favorites]

I recognize this from (I think) Stephen King's Misery - a Do Bee = a person who did their chores.
posted by Addlepated at 1:52 PM on July 6, 2010

Response by poster: Ugh. I somehow forgot to include "good" in my search until right after I posted this. So I see that it is a real phrase. Now that I searched correctly I even see Urban Dictionary saying the phrase comes from the tv show Romper Room. So if I had held off just one more minute I wouldn't have needed to ask this question. My bad.
posted by Green With You at 1:53 PM on July 6, 2010

Best answer: It's "Do bee" as opposed to "Don't bee". They were in the kid's show "Romper Room".
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:54 PM on July 6, 2010 [11 favorites]

The Romper Room explanation is the right one, but a good doobie can still be a nice way of saying 'I'm sorry.'
posted by box at 2:03 PM on July 6, 2010 [1 favorite]

the do bee song
posted by philip-random at 2:38 PM on July 6, 2010

I used to watch Romper Room with my dad. I waited breathlessly to see if Miss Betty would see me through the Magic Mirror ("Magic Mirror, tell me today/Did all my friends have fun at play? I see Billy, and Mary, and Tommy..." Never Angie. Never, ever, ever. I still have the scars.). My dad ogled Miss Betty.

And if I find a chore unexpectedly done, I still call the person who did it a "good do-bee".

I'm thinking that a "good doobie" is probably not appropriate for the pre-school crowd.
posted by angiep at 3:28 PM on July 6, 2010

My in-laws (New Englanders) say this and I have never known where it came from!
posted by LobsterMitten at 3:42 PM on July 6, 2010

D0- bee, as opposed to DON'T- bee.
posted by Lynsey at 12:44 AM on July 7, 2010

A bee is an insect. "Be" is a verb. I think it's "do-be." just sayin...
posted by bricoleur at 5:55 PM on July 7, 2010

Check Chocolate Pickle's link, bricoleur. Respectfully, I think it is possible that you may be mistaken.
posted by box at 6:35 PM on July 7, 2010

Serves me right for going all pedantic. Yes, I was mistaken.
posted by bricoleur at 6:14 AM on July 9, 2010