Bob's your uncle
Meaning: And there you have it; simple as that.
Language: English
Literally: (Baffling to non-Brits)
Category: The Absurd
Origin: The story everyone tells involves Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, Lord Salisbury, who as prime minister appointed his nephew Arthur Balfour to the sensitive post of Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1887 — an act of nepotism blatant enough that a phrase meaning "and there you have it, effortlessly" would be a fitting sarcastic monument to it, with Bob standing in for Robert. The problem is the gap. The expression is not attested until the 1920s, roughly four decades after the appointment, and forty years of complete silence is difficult to explain for a phrase supposedly coined as a topical joke. Etymologists therefore treat the Salisbury story as unproven, and some suspect the phrase is simply a nonsense tag of the kind English generates freely, with the Balfour explanation attached later because it makes such a satisfying story.
More idioms — The Absurd
- Chercher midi à quatorze heures — To overcomplicate a simple matter.
- se battre contre les moulins à vent — Fighting a hopeless battle against something immovable or pointless.
- prendre ses rêves pour des réalités — Confusing fantasy with reality; living in delusion.
- tirer les vers du nez — Getting someone to reveal information they want to keep secret.
- faire un bide — Experiencing complete failure or lack of success.
- faire un couac — Making an embarrassing mistake or producing a discordant sound.
More English idioms
- take the biscuit — to be the most outrageous or remarkable thing; to win or excel.
- beat around the bush — to avoid addressing the main point; to speak indirectly.
- give someone the cold shoulder — to deliberately treat someone with indifference or ignore them.
- let the cat out of the bag — to reveal a secret inadvertently.
- pull your punches — to hold back; to be less forceful than you could be.
- spill the tea — to reveal gossip or scandalous information.
From our compliments & insults
- Tête de linotte — A scatterbrain who can't hold a thought.
- Courir sur le haricot — To get badly on someone's nerves.
- Tienes menos luces que un barco pirata — You're really not the brightest.