January 11, 2009, 08:27
<Asa Lovejoy>Bob's your uncle
Whence comes this expression? What does it mean?
Clueless Asa
January 11, 2009, 08:51
arnieWe discussed this a while back in
this thread. Michael Quinion of
World Wide Words has an article and so does
The Word Detective, Evan Morris.
January 11, 2009, 20:34
KallehI don't know about other Americans, but I've not heard it used here (I've only read about it), and I suspect it's more common in England.
The Quinion article, mentioning other uses of "Bob," reminded me of a group of limericks that Bob wrote on OEDILF on "Bob." They were good! I see I mentioned them, too, in the thread that arnie linked to.
I found this interesting from the Quinion article:
quote:
Since the very word nepotism derives from the Italian word for nephew (from the practice of Italian popes giving preferment to nephews, a euphemism for their bastard sons), the association here seems more than apt.
I did not know that's where
nepotism originated. (By the way, wouldn't you say "preference," rather than "preferment?")
January 13, 2009, 04:19
zmježd the Italian word for nephewThe Italian word
neopte is from the Latin word
nepos,
nepotis, 'grandson; nephew; descendant; spendthrift'.
January 19, 2009, 04:49
tsuwmquote:
Originally posted by Kalleh: By the way, wouldn't you say "preference," rather than "preferment?"
preferment has a more specific sense which applies here: promotion or appointment to a position or office [Compact OED]