What are "jubee lips"?
June 13, 2018 7:37 AM Subscribe
From this article, "But I had already noticed those signature serious eyebrows, the jubee lips, the rounded jaw." Is this New Zealand slang?
More typically spelled "jubey", it means thick lips.
It seems to be New Zealand slang. See how it is used here, for example (fourth paragraph).
posted by beagle at 9:32 AM on June 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
It seems to be New Zealand slang. See how it is used here, for example (fourth paragraph).
posted by beagle at 9:32 AM on June 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
I'm told by a native Kiwi that this is at least slightly racist.
posted by falsedmitri at 9:51 AM on June 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by falsedmitri at 9:51 AM on June 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
(NZer here). You mostly hear it applied to Polynesians, and when I was a kid in a school that was more than 25% Māori roll, mostly negatively. It gives me pause, although clearly someone describing their own baby doesn't mean it that way. I would never use this phrase.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:50 PM on June 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:50 PM on June 13, 2018 [3 favorites]
Another NZer saying that yeah, this is slang with racist roots. I'm white, and would never say it. I've heard Māori or Pacifika people saying it in a joking way amongst friends.
posted by BeeJiddy at 6:41 PM on June 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by BeeJiddy at 6:41 PM on June 13, 2018 [2 favorites]
I was called jubey lips by bullies for the first few years of high school in NZ . can confirm it means thick lips. And jujube was a variant some kids used. I also associated it at the time with Jube lollies, because they are thick, or something. But in hindsight, I'm sure it had racist origins instead.
posted by lollusc at 12:13 AM on June 14, 2018
posted by lollusc at 12:13 AM on June 14, 2018
I was at primary school in the 1970s, and at that point I heard it as Juju lips.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:59 AM on June 14, 2018
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 1:59 AM on June 14, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
Here are some jube candies from a New Zealand food site.
posted by jocelmeow at 9:31 AM on June 13, 2018 [2 favorites]