Path: csiph.com!.POSTED.csiph.com!not-for-mail
From: "HenHanna" <HenHanna@Posting.from.CsiPh>
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles,sci.lang,alt.usage.english
Subject: Re: [Bob's your uncle]  is  actually American ???
Date: Sun, 31 May 2026 20:51:13 +0000
Organization: csiph.com Internet News Service
Message-ID: <6a1c9f41.bbafdebdb448a12c@csiph.com>
References: <1780260450-4055@newsgrouper.org>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Injection-Info: csiph.com; posting-host="csiph.com:127.0.0.1"; logging-data="42595"; mail-complaints-to="admin@kev009.com"
Cancel-Lock: sha1:SvSLG0xJABJynGD5G/hejaK//FI= sha256:HhOmWm5LNutCr3d9xAyiY1pz6WRHEXkHAMn3lFZnUzY=
X-Posted-By: csiph-web (user: HenHanna)
Xref: csiph.com rec.puzzles:27891 sci.lang:308515 alt.usage.english:1144966

HenHanna@NewsGrouper <user4055@newsgrouper.org.invalid> wrote:
> 
> 
> 
>    It was only 4(?) years ago that I learned 2 Brit expressions
>    [Bob's your uncle], and (((???)))
> 
> and one of my  3   fav Ling Youtubers  seems to be telling me that
>  
> 
>     [Bob's your uncle]  is  actually American ??? 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________
> 
> 
>         was it used by SH, Nabokov,  Joyce ?
> 
> 
> >>>  No, "Bob’s your uncle" was never once used by Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), Vladimir Nabokov, or James Joyce.
> 
> The absolute lack of this phrase across their collective works boils down to an issue of historical and geographic timelines: .................



  if the following was widely known,  Joyce 
would have written about it???  (or used it???)

     


     The Popular Origin Story (British Nepotism)

The most famous, widely cited theory for the phrase dates back to 1887
British politics. Prime Minister Robert "Bob" Gascoyne-Cecil (the
Marquess of Salisbury) shockingly appointed his own young nephew, Arthur
Balfour, to the highly prestigious and powerful post of Chief Secretary
for Ireland.

The public view was that Balfour didn't earn the job through merit;
rather, your success was entirely guaranteed because "Bob’s your
uncle". 

Over time, the phrase evolved from a joke about political favoritism
into a general expression meaning "and there you have it" or "it's as
simple as that".