Whence comes this expression? What does it mean?

Clueless Asa

We 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.

I 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?")

the Italian word for nephew

The Italian word neopte is from the Latin word nepos, nepotis, 'grandson; nephew; descendant; spendthrift'.

quote:

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]