the 1938 "Bob's yer uncle" story

[Stephen Goranson]

"Street Corner" by Tom Burns has, to my knowledge, the earliest reported
quotation of "Bob's yer uncle" (Partridge listed "Bob's your uncle" in 1937,
without providing a quotation). It is in New Writing, edited by John Lehmann
with the assistance of Christopher Isherwood and Stephen Spender [the latter
the source of the OED 1946 quotation] (New York: Alfred A. Knopf [and London:
Hogarth Press] Fall 1938 {=new series 1]). According to "About the Contributors"
p. xi "Tom Burns is the author of two stories in [old series] No. 4 A Bit of Fun
and Back Rent. he was born in Bethnal Green in 1913, and has worked in London
shops, in the Post Office, and as a private school teacher.

from pages 72-73:
....'There's that crowd of tarts. Let's get past 'em.'
....A tall girl in the middle turned her head as they came near. "H'm,
look out,
girls," she said. 'The army's 'ere.' The others turned and giggled shrilly as
the youths marched past.
'Bob's yer uncle,' shouted another girl, very suddenly. They all shrieked loud
with laughter.
[p. 73] ''Ow's yer Aunt Fanny?' called back Frankie, and the shrieks came loud
again. "Woo-oo, woo-oo'--Doobsy led a mock chorus....
"Saucy effs,' said the tall girl....
'Oo, yer bitch,' shouted Frankie....
'Buch o' toerags,' said the tall girl....
"Ah, eff 'em,' said Walter. 'Stuck-up cows. Think they're all Joan
Crawford when
they get uhside the factory....

Stephen Goranson
http://www.duke.edu/~goranson

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