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Bob's your uncle

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Bob's your uncle is a commonly used expression known mainly in Britain, Ireland and Commonwealth nations. It is often used immediately following a set of simple instructions and carries roughly the same meaning as the phrase "and there you have it" or "quickly"; for example, "To make a ham sandwich, simply put a piece of ham between two slices of buttered bread, and Bob's your uncle."

Etymology

One theory regarding the origin of the phrase is that it refers to Lord Frederick Roberts 1832-1914(1st Earl Roberts, Roberts of Kandahar). Roberts was an Anglo-Irish soldier, born in India, who fought and commanded in India, Abysinnia, Afghanistan and South Africa. Roberts was one of the most succesful commanders of the Victorian era and was cited for numerous acts of gallantry. His finest hour was perhaps the lifting of the siege of Kandahar in 1878 in which he marched a force of 10,000 men over three hundred miles from Kabul,winning a battle and succesfully lifting the siege. Well respected amongst his men, Roberts was affectionately referred to as 'Uncle Bobs'.Generally meaning 'all will be well',and often used to indicate a succesful outcome, the phrase'Bob's your uncle' was a term originally used by Roberts's men to boost confidence among the ranks and imply that all would be well under his command.

It is a catchphrase sometimes claimed to date to 1887, when British Prime Minister Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury decided to appoint Arthur Balfour to the prestigious and sensitive post of Chief Secretary for Ireland. Lord Salisbury was Arthur Balfour's uncle. The difficulty with that proposed explanation is that there is no contemporary documentation for it, and, despite extensive searching, the earliest known published uses of the phrase are from 1932 and two from 1937 and two from 1938 (these and other quotations at American Dialect Society list archived posts by Stephen Goranson).[1]

A more probable theory is 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.[2]

Usage

In some places in Britain, "Bob's your uncle" is also a way of saying "you're all set", "you've got it made!" or "that's great!" and is used as an expression of jubilation at good fortune. It is used thus in the Alastair Sim film Scrooge, a version of the classic Dickens story A Christmas Carol, where a reformed Ebenezer Scrooge confronts his housekeeper, Mrs Dilber, on Christmas morning. He gives her a guinea (£1.05 in that era, and equivalent to about $100 today) as a Christmas present, and announces he will significantly raise her salary. In a burst of excitement the housekeeper responds, “Bob’s yer uncle! Merry Christmas, Mr Scrooge, in keeping with the situation!”.[3] However, this may be an anachronism, as A Christmas Carol was first published by Dickens in 1843 and as outlined above the expression (in the later film) was not in use at that time.

Usage has evolved to the expressions "Robert's your father's brother", "Robert's your auntie's husband" and "Robert's your mother's brother" as synonymous phrases. "Fanny's your aunt" appears later.

The phrase was used by jamie oliver on Oliver's Twist in 2002 and later on in the September 22, 2009 episode of NCIS as well as on back to back episodes of Monk and Psych on September 25, 2009. The phrase was then used by Tony Reali in an episode of Pardon the Interruption on September 29, 2009.

The phrase was used in the famous infomercial for the Magic Bullet (appliance) where the host Mick says after making a Quesadilla, "There ya go, and Bob's your uncle, Betty's your aunt!"

The phrase can be found in the 1961 animated film adaptation of 101 Dalmatians. In a scene where Jasper and Horace notice the puppies have run away, Jasper says "Hey Horace! Look! They’re gone. They flew the coop. Right out through this hole. Here, grab a torch. We’ll run ‘em down before you can say “Bob’s your uncle”."

The killer, named Bob, in Alfred Hitchcock's "Frenzy" says "Bob's your uncle" a few times, and near the end, says to the man who has been blamed for the killings and is on the run, "You did the right thing coming to your Uncle Bob."

In the 2009 PS3 game, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, character Harry Flynn uses the term after explaining their initial plan that sets off the events of the game.

In the 2005 episode of C.S.I: Crime Scene Investigation ("Room Service"), Nick Stokes, after explaining how a suspect might have used a Palm Pilot to magnetize a hotel card key and gain access to a victim's room, says, "...and Bob's your uncle."

See also

References

  1. ^ Linguistlist.org
  2. ^ Worldwidewords.org
  3. ^ Blogspot.com, Baby Duck, a Great Canadian Whine! The Guardian from 23 December 1999