OK, Mike ...

Here's a quote from one of your recent posts:

Apply a fresh coat of poly with a good quality brush and Bob's your uncle.

I've heard "Bob's your uncle" from a couple of my Canadian friends but none could explain the genesis of that expression. Can you enlighten me?

Larry

On Saturday, March 21, 2015 at 6:54:11 PM UTC-4, Gramps' shop wrote:
OK, Mike ...

Here's a quote from one of your recent posts:

Apply a fresh coat of poly with a good quality brush and Bob's your uncle.

I've heard "Bob's your uncle" from a couple of my Canadian friends but none could explain the genesis of that expression. Can you enlighten me?

Larry

The reason none of your friends could explain the genesis is because it seems that no one really knows.

Googling the origin will mostly turn up this type of "we don't know" information...

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/bobs-your-uncle.html

DerbyDad03 wrote in
:

On Saturday, March 21, 2015 at 6:54:11 PM UTC-4, Gramps' shop wrote:
OK, Mike ...

Here's a quote from one of your recent posts:

Apply a fresh coat of poly with a good quality brush and Bob's your
uncle.

I've heard "Bob's your uncle" from a couple of my Canadian friends
but none could explain the genesis of that expression. Can you
enlighten me?

Larry

The reason none of your friends could explain the genesis is because
it seems that no one really knows.

Pfaugh. The source of that phrase is well known, it's a
reference to Robert Peel, a Prime Minister during Victoria's
reign in England. Peel was noted for his ability to find
cushy government jobs for friends and relatives, hence the
idea that having "Bob" as your uncle was a sure ticket to
success.

Peel is also noteworthy for having created the London
Police force, hence the nicknames "bobbies" or "peelers"
for the police in the UK.

John

Gramps' shop wrote:
OK, Mike ...

Here's a quote from one of your recent posts:

Apply a fresh coat of poly with a good quality brush and Bob's your
uncle.

I've heard "Bob's your uncle" from a couple of my Canadian friends
but none could explain the genesis of that expression. Can you
enlighten me?


I'm not sure I really know the genesis of the expression (whithout a google
search), myself Larry, but I've always understood it to say - You're home
free, or You've gotten what you were after. Hope that makes some sort of
sense...

--

-Mike-

On Saturday, March 21, 2015 at 9:03:02 PM UTC-4, John McCoy wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote in
:

On Saturday, March 21, 2015 at 6:54:11 PM UTC-4, Gramps' shop wrote:
OK, Mike ...

Here's a quote from one of your recent posts:

Apply a fresh coat of poly with a good quality brush and Bob's your
uncle.

I've heard "Bob's your uncle" from a couple of my Canadian friends
but none could explain the genesis of that expression. Can you
enlighten me?

Larry

The reason none of your friends could explain the genesis is because
it seems that no one really knows.

Pfaugh. The source of that phrase is well known, it's a
reference to Robert Peel, a Prime Minister during Victoria's
reign in England. Peel was noted for his ability to find
cushy government jobs for friends and relatives, hence the
idea that having "Bob" as your uncle was a sure ticket to
success.

Are you sure you aren't referring to Robert Cecil, AKA Lord Salisbury, who appointed his nephew Arthur Balfour to a few different political posts?

I don't really have an opinion either way, but the site I linked to (as well as many others) states that there seems to be some "date related" issues with associating the origin of the phrase with Robert Cecil.

A couple of excerpts, which I in no way assert to be correct...

Stolen without permission from:

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/bobs-your-uncle.html

"The link here between an uncle Bob who was Prime Minister and a 'Bob's your uncle' passport to a cushy life is easy to make. The fact that the word 'nepotism' derives from 'nephew' makes the link seem all the more neat. Such neatness is often the mark of a back-formation, that is, an explanation that is made up after the event."

and

"The difficulty with the first two suggested origins is the date. The phrase itself isn't recorded until the 1920s. It would seem odd for a phrase to be coined about the nepotism of an uncle for his nephew well after both Prime Ministers were out of office."

The following site also questions the Robert Cecil connection...

Stolen without permission from:

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bob1.htm

"This is a catchphrase which seemed to arise out of nowhere and yet has had a long period of fashion and is still going strong.
....
The most attractive theory -- albeit suspiciously neat -- is that it derives from a prolonged act of political nepotism.
....
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?"

Although the date of the supposed first appearance in print differs between the 2 sites (1920's vs. 1937), they both state that that seems a little late for the phrase to have first appeared in print. (To be fair, some sites suggest that the phrase started back in 1887, but there doesn't seem to be any documented proof of that)

While I'll agree that the Lord Salibury/Arthur Balfour theory is the most common (and certainly the neatest), the fact that so many different websites question the connection raises some legitimate doubts.

DerbyDad03 wrote in
:

On Saturday, March 21, 2015 at 9:03:02 PM UTC-4, John McCoy wrote:

Pfaugh. The source of that phrase is well known, it's a
reference to Robert Peel, a Prime Minister during Victoria's
reign in England.

Are you sure you aren't referring to Robert Cecil, AKA Lord Salisbury,
who appointed his nephew Arthur Balfour to a few different political
posts?

Well, I've always heard it attributed to Peel, who was
obviously known as "Bob" (hence bobbies for police).
But you make a good point, especially since there don't
seem to be known examples in print before the 20's.

John