"Bob's your uncle"

[Jonathon Green]

Far be it from me to set off a BS/folk-ety.alarm. So I'll leave it to
Brewer, who has the same story, noting that Cecil seems to have started
favouring Balfour in 1886.

Jonathon Green


----- Original Message -----
From: "Mark Mandel" <Mark_Mandel at DRAGONSYS.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2001 7:03 PM
Subject: Re: "Bob's your uncle"


> 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