"Bob's your uncle"

[Mark Mandel]

Jonathon Green <slang at BLUEYONDER.CO.UK> writes:

>>>>>
It is, indeed, a UK coinage, and means everything will be absolutely fine,
there'll be no worries; sometimes prefixed by _and_. According to A.J.
Langguth, in his biog. of _Saki_ (1981), the phr. came from f. the
apparently nepotistic choice by the then Tory leader Robert Cecil of his
nephew Arthur Balfour as Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1900, a decision
that was both surprising and unpopular.
<<<<<

A likely story. Rather, "A likely story!". Something so neat and easily
attributable sets off my BS / folk-etymology alarm. Does anyone know
better?


-- Mark