UK question, "Bobs your Uncle"???

I went this weekend and saw Worlds Fastest Indian. Awsome Movie!!! I have one question though, Every now and then Burt would say "Bob's your Uncle" I am guseeing that this is just a saying kinda like "I'll be damned" or something. Inlighten us and tell us what this means.

Thanks,

Tracy

 

The correct response to this is "...and Fanny's your Aunt"

Here's some thoughts on the origin;

This is a catchphrase which seemed to arise out of nowhere and yet has had a long period of fashion and is still going strong. It’s known mainly in Britain and Commonwealth countries, and is really a kind of interjection. It’s used to show how simple it is to do something: “You put the plug in here, press that switch, and Bob’s your uncle!”.
The most attractive theory—albeit su****iously neat—is that it derives from a prolonged act of political nepotism. The Victorian prime minister, Lord Salisbury (family name Robert Cecil, pronounced ) appointed his rather less than popular nephew Arthur Balfour to a succession of posts. The most controversial, in 1887, was chief secretary of Ireland, a post for which Balfour—despite his intellectual gifts—was considered unsuitable. The Dictionary of National Biography says: “The country saw with something like stupefaction the appointment of the young dilettante to what was at the moment perhaps the most important, certainly the most anxious office in the administration”. As the story goes, the consensus a**** the irreverent in Britain was that to have Bob as your uncle was a guarantee of success, hence the expression. Since the very word nepotism derives from the Italian word for nephew (from the practice of Italian popes giving preferment to nephews, a euphemism for their ******* sons), the ***ociation here seems more than apt.
Actually, Balfour did rather well in the job, confounding his critics and earning the bitter nickname ****** Balfour from the Irish, which must have quietened the accusations of undue favouritism more than a little (he also rose to be Prime Minister from 1902–5). There is another big problem: the phrase isn’t recorded until 1937, in Eric Partridge’s Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English. Mr Partridge suggested it had been in use since the 1890s, but nobody has found an example in print. This is surprising. If public indignation or cynicism against Lord Salisbury’s actions had been great enough to provoke creation of the saying, why didn’t it appear—to take a case—in a satirical magazine of the time such as Punch?
A rather more probable, but less exciting, theory has it that it derives from the slang phrase all is bob, meaning that everything is safe, pleasant or satisfactory. This dates back to the seventeenth century or so (it’s in Captain Francis Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue of 1785). There have been several other slang expressions containing bob, some ***ociated with thievery or gambling, and from the eighteenth century on it was also a common generic name for somebody you didn’t know. Any or all of these might have contributed to its genesis.

 

Thank`s for the explanation.

 

i learn something new everyday, thanks!!!

 

Wow, thanks Blackjack. I’ve been working with the Brits for the last 25 years and I have not heard an explanation for that expression until now. And even better, I now have a come back!!

 

Thanks for the info.

 

My dad, a good Geordie lad from Wallsend England would always say " and Fanny's yer aunt" after it was said. Fanny has a "special" meaning in the UK ! Stu

 

Dear God it never ends on this site... I just laughed my *** off reading the post on MG's (one of which I've owned for over twenty years) and I stumble accross this!

Thank you Blackjack, very informative and certainly hilarious.

 

Gotta love the UK, I'd love to get a big "Mind the Gap" sign for the garage.

 

my neice is living in the UK. i have alot of mind the gap stuff.

 

Take your pick... altho i prefer the more "shapely" one

 

Nice! Gives a whole new meaning to the phrase!

 

If you liked that - you're going to love this. Ever wanted to know what Brits mean why they say they "feel sick as a parrot" or what's the difference between a tenner, a monkey and a pony? Have a look here.

http://www.antimoon.com/forum/2004/5798.htm

This one's even better;

http://www.briggs13.fsnet.co.uk/idiomslist.htm

BTW - Daphne Moon off Frasier has an English accent no one over here has ever heard (I'd still **** the **** off her though - she's top totty).

 

My wife lived in Brighton for a spell in College so she's qued me into some of the phrases from the UK. She still puts milk in her tea....

 

Very good explanation Blackjack,jobs a goodun mate....lol

 

Here's another good'un:

http://www.effingpot.com/

They even do a book: English-American dictionary - useful for a transplant like myself!

 

Where is the answer in the link?? Am I blind or...? I see the question but don't see an answer??? I've never heard the expression "sick as a parot" so I'm curious now!

****** hell!

 

You mean that's not the original meaning???

 

And here is a really old one as an insult to someone.
'Sir you are a Quacksalvers jackpudding'
The meaning comes from the middle ages in Britain from about 1200 ad.A quacksalver was a kind of doctor that travelled from village to village a bit like your old wild west American Quacks (this is where Quack actually comes from).Now to the Jackpudding ,He was generally a simpleton dressed as a court jester who would entertain the crowd before they got conned out of thier hard earned cash.So to call someone a Quacksalvers jackpudding is really quite bad...............Marq

 

Bobs yer uncle, Fanny yer aunt,
and if ya mum had knackers instead of knickers
she'd be yer dad.

 

Trust you Baz lmao.....................Marq

 

Some of the boys I tour with use the derivitive...

"Robert's your mothers' brother."

I too bought a rhyming slang dictionary, to figure out what they were "on about." Rumor has it that English foremen created the rhyming slang so that imigrant workers couldn't figure out what the hell they we talking about. Seems it still works.
Z

 

Doesn't anyone wanna know what Pome stands for? My kiwi pals enlightened me years ago

 

Antipodeans aren't really English (even though they'd like to be judging by the number that come over to the UK to work - sort of returning to the scene of the crime).

If you REALLY want to annoy an Australian ask him what part of Australia he comes from. When he says New South Wales, Northern Territories, Western Australia or some such - tell him "No Mate - you come from Queensland. You must do because it's all the Queen's land". Remember to smile after that to avoid a punch in the mouth.

 

Pommy Git!

 

lol

aight i'll bite. . .

"whatsa pome?"

 

Here you go - this will explain the differences between the "ABC" nationalities:

Aussies: Dislike being mistaken for Pommies (Brits) when abroad.
Canadians: Are rather indignant about being mistaken for Americans when
abroad.
Americans: Encourage being mistaken for Canadians when abroad.
Brits: Can't possibly be mistaken for anyone else when abroad.


Aussies: Believe you should look out for your mates.
Brits: Believe that you should look out for those people who belong to your
club.
Americans: Believe that people should look out for & take care of themselves.
Canadians: Believe that that's the government's job.


Aussies: Are extremely patriotic to their beer.
Americans: Are flag-waving, anthem-singing, and obsessively patriotic to
the point of blindness.
Canadians: Can't agree on the words to their anthem, when they can be
bothered to sing them.
Brits: Do not sing at all but prefer a large br*** band to perform the anthem.


Americans: Spend most of their lives glued to the idiot box.
Canadians: Don't, but only because they can't get more American channels.
Brits: Pay a tax just so they can watch four channels.
Aussies: Export all their ****py programs, which no-one there watches, to
Britain, where everybody loves them.


Americans: Will jabber on incessantly about football, baseball, and
basketball.
Brits: Will jabber on incessantly about cricket, soccer, and rugby.
Canadians: Will jabber on incessantly about hockey, hockey, hockey, hockey,
and how they beat the Americans twice, playing baseball.
Aussies: Will jabber on incessantly about how they beat the Poms in every
sport they play them in.


Americans: Spell words differently, but still call it "English".
Brits: Pronounce their words differently, but still call it "English".
Canadians: Spell like the Brits, pronounce like Americans.
Aussies: Add "G'day", "mate" and a heavy accent to everything they say in
an attempt to get laid.


Brits: Shop at home and have goods imported because they live on an island.
Aussies: Shop at home and have goods imported because they live on an island.
Americans: Cross the southern border for cheap shopping, gas, & liquor in a
backwards country.
Canadians: Cross the southern border for cheap shopping, gas, & liquor in a
backwards country.


Americans: Drink weak, pissy-tasting beer.
Canadians: Drink strong, pissy-tasting beer.
Brits: Drink warm, beery-tasting piss.
Aussies: Drink anything with alcohol in it.


Americans: Seem to think that poverty & failure are morally suspect.
Canadians: Seem to believe that wealth and success are morally suspect.
Brits: Seem to believe that wealth, poverty, success and failure are
inherited things.
Aussies: Seem to think that none of this matters after several beers

 

In another thread I quoted Frank Costin's amazing piece of wisdom:
"There are more ways to kill a cat than stuffing his **** with bricks."

Another of Frank's favorite phrases, uttered to express surprise or astonishment, was "**** me old boots!" (with emphasis on the F-word).

Francis was actually an Irishman who p***ed as a Brit. Maybe that explained his uncommon use of the language.

 

Canada - isn't that "America Lite"?

And Aussies - why have you got a New South Wales?? Have you ever been to the old South Wales? Why would we need another one?

If you want some good old British humour can I recommend this site to you;

http://www.thepublandlord.com/

 

OK, I've got one for you. My grandfather always used to say it, or kind of sing it. Typically during a quite period when no-one was talking, or maybe out of flustration as he got up to head back to work.

"That's what I said, meat makes fine bread."

Anybody?