Where did the phrase "Bob's your uncle" originate?
543462
what the phrase means. "Bob's your uncle" is a way of saying "you're all set" or "you've got it made." It's a catch phrase dating back to 1887, when British Prime Minister Robert Cecil (a.k.a. Lord Salisbury) decided to appoint a certain Arthur Balfour to the prestigious and sensitive post of Chief Secretary for Ireland. Not lost on the British public was the fact that Lord Salisbury just happened to be better known to Arthur Balfour as "Uncle Bob." In the resulting furor over what was seen as an act of blatant nepotism, "Bob's your uncle" became a popular sarcastic comment applied to any situation where the outcome was preordained by favoritism. As the scandal faded in public memory, the phrase lost its edge and became just a synonym for "no problem.
446304
I found this on line,\n\n"Devious Derivations: Popular Misconceptions -- and More than 1,000 True Origins of Common Words and Phrases" by Hugh Rawson (toExcel, Iuniverse.com, 1994, 2000). This reference has some new information on the origins listed here (new information in parenthesis), new origins and what could be the actual origin. \n\n: : 1. Orrin Kendall biscuits, which soldiers ate during the Civil War. \n: : 2. Short for Aux Cayes, a Haitian port that American sailors praised for its rum. \n: : 3. Old Keokuk, a Native American tribal chief who was said to have signed treaties with his initials. \n: : 4. OK stands for "all correct" or the illiterate phrase "Orl Korrect." \n: : 5. U.S. President Martin Van Buren's nickname "Old Kinderhook" -- OK for short. He was a native of Kinderhook, N.Y.\n: : 6. Choctaw word "okeh," (or "hoke") meaning "indeed" (or "It is so.")\n: : 7. Scottish "auch aye", meaning "ah yes." (Or "och aye," meaning "okay.")\n: : 8. From the French maritime phrase "au quai" meaning "at dock", and therefore at last safe from the ravages of the open sea.\n: : 9. '0 killed' - the report of the night's death toll during the First World War. \n: : 10. All clear after the shoot-out at O.K. Corral. \n: : 11. Instruments calibrated at an Observatory at Kew had, affixed to them, a stamp, or impression, to authenticate that calibration. This stamp was O K - Observatory Kew. \n\n: : New origins from Mr. Rawson's book:\n: : 12. The abbreviation is for Oberst Kommandant, German for "Colonel in Command," used by either -- take your pick -- a General Schliessen or Baron von Steuben when initialing letters and orders during the American Revolution.\n: : 13. It comes from the name of a freight agent, Obadiah Kelly, whose initials were widely disseminated on bills of lading.\n: : 14. The abbreviation is for Open Key, popularized by telegraphers in the 1860s.\n: : 15. It comes from the names of Lords Onslow and Kilbracken, who initialed bills after they were read and approved in England's House of Lords. \n: : 16. From a misreading of "Order Recorded" on official documents.\n: : 17. Or from Finnish "oikea," correct.\n: : 18. From the Greek "olla," all, plus "Kalla," good.\n\n: : Professor Allen Walker Read of Columbia University, "finally unveiled its (O.K.'s) origins in a series of magisterial articles in 'American Speech' in 1963 and 1964.What Professor Read discovered was that the abbreviation arose in a humorous manner at a time when Americans were indulging in a great deal of wordplay, including abbreviations, acronyms, puns and intentional mispronunciations and misspellings. The earliest example of O.K. that he unearthed (and it is so far still the oldest known specimen) is from the Boston 'Morning Post' of March 23, 1839. It appears in connection with a note by the paper's editor, Charles Gordon Greene, about a visit to New York of some members of the local Anti-Bell-Ringing Society. (The A.B.R.S., as it was usually known, was itself something of a joke, having been formed the previous year to oppose -- its name to the contrary -- an ordinance of the Boston Common Council against ringing dinner bells.) In an aside, Mr. Greene suggested that if the Bostonians were to return home via Providence, they might be greeted by one of his rivals, the editor of that city's 'Journal,' who 'would have the 'contribution box,' et ceteras, o.k. -- all correct -- and cause the corks to fly, like sparks, upward.'.Thus, it appears that O.K. was invented, possibly by Greene, as an abbreviation of the jocular 'Oll' or perhaps 'Orl korrect,' meaning "All right.' This explanation would seem farfetched, except for Read's finding that it dovetai
627130
This expression originated in the United States in about 1900. The phrase may have some Latin connection. When a Roman boy was in trouble, he cried ‘patrue mi Patruissime’ (‘Uncle my best of uncles’).
431555
There is no English word for it. It's what what you are to the Godfather of your child and vice versa. People can also call each other this if they feel a special, close bond- like "uncle Johnny" who isn't a biological uncle.
624846
I have a reference from 1997 that already says it is old:\nhttp://www.pbs.org/newshour/forum/august97/terror01.html\n\nThe fact that numerous sources fail to give the original source of the quote suggests that no-one actually knows when it was first used.
866195
Sticky wicket generally means "A difficult situation". \n\nThis phrase is being used in cricket also. After rain, the ground becomes soft and the ball bounces more erratically, making it more difficult for the batsman. Hence a sticky wicket, in full to bat on a sticky wicket. To be on one, figuratively speaking, is to experience great difficulty.\n\n"Bob's your Uncle" 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!”.\n\nThe most attractive theory—albeit suspiciously 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 among 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 bastard sons), the association here seems more than apt.\n\nActually, Balfour did rather well in the job, confounding his critics and earning the bitter nickname Bloody 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?\n\nA 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 associated 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.
103967
It's just a comic acronym for the government of the UNited States of AMerica ! \n...Since the government is always asking its soldiers to go somewhere, fetch something, or do some of its own (dirty !) work, just as any biological uncle probably would, the 'boys' had coined this nick !
155847
Unfortunately, it's one of those things where the origins of it's use aren't exactly clear. However, one theory exists that says that the irish word for "uncle" is "anacol" which means "act of protecting; deliverance; mercy, quarter, safety."\n\nThat's as good of a theory as any.
89653
My dad use to say that sometimes when I was going out on a date.  "Going to watch the submarine races?" It would be nice to know the origin of that.  All I could think of was making out.
776199
Various sources credit Lieutenant-Colonel William J. Clear, or Lieutenant-Colonel William Casey, but the phrase is most often attributed to journalist Ernie Pyle\n\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atheists_in_foxholes
225140
I don't know if there's much etymology of the phrase, but here's an article about it which puts forth some interesting possibilities of the origin.\n\nQuote from the site:\n\n"Some linguists and historians think the expression must have been well known during the war years, citing a story about General Eisenhower's dog. The story goes that the dog (Felix) urinated on a map and the officers joked that the enemy was "pissed off." (Leonard Mosely, Marshall, 1982)."
887537
"Lickety-split; like a blue streak;like a bat out of hell; with extreme rapidity.  Although this has the appearance of typical American exaggerated hyperbole, nevertheless the earliest printed record of use is in the "Boston, Lincoln, and Louth Herald", published in Lincolnshire, England, the issue of January 15, 1833: "He spoke as quick as greased lightning."  We must have taken it to our own bosoms shortly after its coinage, however, for it flourisheth here like the green bay tree"
256488
My uncle used to say stuff like that all the time!  Thanks for bringing up some great memories for me and also for the 2 points.
671615
it comes from the fruit "baneberry" which was a poisonous fruit given to enemies in old England.\nThe actual expression is "bane of my life", meaning "he will be the death of me.
576169
it came from Eric Arthur Blair  much better known by the pen name George Orwell, was a British author and journalist. Noted as a political and cultural commentator, as well as an accomplished novelist, Orwell is among the most widely admired English-language essayists of the 20th century. He is best known for two novels written towards the end of his short life: Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.\n\nNineteen Eighty-Four has given the English language the phrase 'Big Brother', or 'Big Brother is watching you'. This is used to refer to any oppressive regime, but particularly in the context of invasion of privacy. The TV series 'Big Brother' is named after this phrase.
741742
I think it's a euphemism for "jacksh-t"\nSo now the question is, where did THAT phrase come from?
583427
The letters, not to keep you guessing, stand for "oll korrect." They're the result of a fad for comical abbreviations that flourished in the late 1830s and 1840s. \nThere is an interesting article on this at the source webpage I referenced below. \n\nBarbecue\nThis American contribution to international cuisine actually originated in the Caribbean, and the word comes to us via Spanish from its Indian roots. The original sense of barbecue is that of a raised, wooden (later metal) framework used for either sleeping upon or curing meats. The Indians of Guiana called it a babracot and the Haitians a barbacoa. The Spanish evidently acquired the Haitian word and it came into English from the Spanish.\nThe earliest English cite, used for a sleeping platform, is from 1697. By 1733 the word was being used for an open-air, social gathering featuring the grilling of meat.\nBarbecue has one false etymology that is commonly promulgated on the Internet and elsewhere. It is claimed that it comes from the French barbe (beard) and queue (tail); the idea being that an entire pig is roasted, from head, or beard, to tail. This is simply not true.\n(In Mexico, "barbacoa" is a pulled pork-type meat from a certain animal that I won't mention here. It is cooked in a pit for 12 hours or more--basically the same way as the english definition of barbecue.  Slow and long.)