I often wonder about some phrases. “Bob’s your uncle” is one that I often hear and I’m not sure what it means.
everyone seems to have an uncle bob... so the saying “As sure as Bob’s your uncle.”
means it is very likely to be.
at least that is what my uncle bob says.
“Bob’s you uncle” is a play on the idea that everybody has an uncle named Robert, or Bob. That is likely true of Southerners, but this is actually an old English saying imported into the USA, possibly in colonial times.
My family is of Scottish extraction, and there is a family tradition that each generation must have a son named James Robert.
I often wonder about some phrases. “Bob’s your uncle” is one that I often hear and I’m not sure what it means.
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Have you heard of the American Pinkerton Cops? They were a private security force which contracted out to organizations such as railroads, department stores and government police agencies. The Robert Peale agency had an even larger share of British policing, and lots of Brits were locked up by “bobbies”. A good way to avoid this fate was to be related to someone associated with Robert Peale, i.e. “Bob’s your uncle.”
It’s an English idiom somewhat equivalent the American Idiom “piece of cake”.
It means something like “and there you have it”. It’s clearer when you hear the rest of the saying which goes:
“Robert is your father’s brother; Bob’s your uncle.”
So my mom is English and I always heard it in the context of explaining something to someone in steps, usually, and at the end you say:
Bob’s your Uncle.
To express that it’s not a hard concept following these steps or knowing the chronology of the story.
And there you go, Bob’s your Uncle.
Or as Paul Harvey used to say:
And now you know the rest of the story.