Bob’s Your Uncle!

[Q] From Florence C Goold: “What is the origin and actual meaning of bob’s your uncle?”

[A] 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. It’s known mainly in Britain and Commonwealth countries, and is really a kind of interjection. It’s used to show how simple it is to do something: “You put the plug in here, press that switch, and Bob’s your uncle!”.

from World Wide Words

I am officially starting a movement for the United States to join the rest of the civilized English speaking world and start shouting, “Bob’s Your Uncle!” This is a nice blog by Michael Quinion about English in England and the U.S., and he offers a detailed explanation of the phrase. Another related blog, “Separated by a Common Language” by a writer known only as “lynneguist” has an interesting post about Barack Obama’s apparently ambiguous racial standing.

It seems Debra J. Dickerson has claimed (in Salon) that Obama isn’t black because he isn’t a descendant of U.S. slaves. In rebuttal, Gary Kamiya writes (in Salon) that Obama “is black — he just isn’t “black.”” That settles it for me. Of course, lynnequist’s site is named after George Bernard Shaw’s famous quip that “England and America are two countries separated by a common language.” He also said that “Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it.” Bob’s your Uncle!