Bob’s your uncle! And Fanny’s your aunt!

[Speakeasy]

In the recently-opened discussion thread “Linguaphone: How to Use?”, I concluded a suggestion to novice users of these courses, on how they might create a reference between the course notes and the summary of grammar which is located in the index of the Handbook, as follows:

Bob’s your uncle!

I learned this expression as a child, growing up on Canadian Army Bases and in civilian communities where many of the adults were expatriate British citizens, as were my parents, or Canadians who had served in Europe (stationed in the U.K.) during the Second World War. All of my childhood friends were familiar with the expression and, upon hearing it, would reply: “And Fanny’s your aunt!” Many years later, I learned that this is commonly known as a "call and response" pair of phrases, frequently used in song and elsewhere. Out of curiosity, I Googled “Bob’s your uncle!” and the following Wikipedia article popped up. The purported origins of the expression are absolutely delicious!

Bob’s your uncle
"Bob's your uncle" is a phrase commonly used in United Kingdom and Commonwealth countries that means "and there it is" or "and there you have it." Typically, someone says it to conclude a set of simple instructions or when a result is reached. The meaning is similar to that of the French expression "et voilà!" or the American "easy as pie" or "piece of cake".

Origin
The origins are uncertain, but a common theory is that the expression arose after Conservative Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury ("Bob") appointed his nephew Arthur Balfour as Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1887, an act of nepotism which was apparently both surprising and unpopular. Whatever other qualifications Balfour might have had, "Bob's your uncle" was seen as the conclusive one.

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury.jpg

CONTEST:
How does "Fanny's your aunt!" fit into this "call and response" pair of phrases?

EDITED:
Typos. Definitely my fault, this time.

[AnthonyLauder]

A few years ago, I was working at a bank in Luxembourg, where the daily language at work was French. One of my colleagues was Vietnamese, and he spoke great French but very poor English. One day, he overheard me saying, after solving a simple problem, "and Bob's your uncle!" To my great delight, my Vietnamese colleague shouted out "and Fanny's your aunt". I couldn't stop laughing. Given his poor English skills I was astonished. He explained "Back in Vietnam our teacher used a very old book, full of phrases like that."

I have no idea where "Fanny's your aunt" orignated, but I remembered today that the always-magnificent World Wide Words had an article about Bob's Your Uncle, and casts doubt on the Balfour origin.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bob1.htm

[golyplot]

It's interesting, because I've heard "Bob's your uncle", but I've never heard the Fanny thing. Though I suppose that's probably because I've seen it in print, whereas the response thing sounds like something you say face to face.

[Speakeasy]

...the response thing sounds like something you say face to face.

Yes, that reflects my own experience. This is part of the "call and response" technique. Someone "calls out" a phrase and someone else, in return, out "calls out a response". It is commonly used in certain genres of popular music as well as chants designed to motivate/unit groups of people who are performing a task together (think of a group of U.S. Marine recruits jogging in formation, their Drill Sergeant "calling" to them and their "responding" to him). AnthonyLauder's anecdote presented a good example of the "call and response" pair: Bob's your Uncle ... and Fanny's your aunt!

EDITED:
Typos, punctuation.

[Iversen]

Maybe I just have a dirty mind, but I'm not surprised to see the name Fanny for somebody's aunt pop up in a display of popular wit.

[Speakeasy]

Maybe I just have a dirty mind, but I'm not surprised to see the name Fanny for somebody's aunt pop up in a display of popular wit.

Good Heaven's my man! I just Googled "Fanny's your aunt" and it would appear that an alternate response of "Nellie's your aunt" is popularly used. Now then, it seems to me that mere existence of the alternate response cannot be used to suggest that your "dirty mind" supposition is incorrect. In fact, it is conceivable that the "Nellie" variant developed from a desire to avoid the association to which you alluded, you naughty boy!

[lowsocks]

I don't want to derail the thread, but I am reminded of a call and response that was popular when I was very young, at least among young children. When two children said goodbye, sometimes it went as:

Child 1: "See you later, alligator."
Child 2: "In a while, crocodile."

I don't know if anyone hears that anymore.

[EmGeeFab]

I don't want to derail the thread, but I am reminded of a call and response that was popular when I was very young, at least among young children. When two children said goodbye, sometimes it went as:

Child 1: "See you later, alligator."
Child 2: "In a while, crocodile."

I don't know if anyone hears that anymore.

And then, finally,
Child 1: "See you soon, you big baboon."

[Speakeasy]

I don't want to derail the thread, but I am reminded of a call and response that was popular when I was very young, at least among young children. When two children said goodbye, sometimes it went as:

Child 1: "See you later, alligator."
Child 2: "In a while, crocodile."

I don't know if anyone hears that anymore.

Not everything is timeless. It was a popular “call and response” phrase from the early through the middle 1950’s. I picked it from my sister who was a year-and-half older than I was, but who was about ten years more mature than me at the time (eventually, I caught up with her, despite her denials).

Although I am no longer up-to-date in English idioms, slang, catch-phrases, and the like, I doubt that “See you later, alligator” is current. One might still hear the phrase on the PBS “Fifties” televised concerts where the surviving members of the era's do-wop and rock ‘n roll stars recover their youth with the assistance of back-up and replacement singers one quarter their age but, apart from that, I think that is "as dead as a Dodo, daddy-o!".

I remember hearing the song on the radio, but it was not to my taste.


EDITED:
Typos, as always!

[golyplot]

Although I am no longer up-to-date in English idioms, slang, catch-phrases, and the like, I doubt that “See you later, alligator” is current. One might still hear the phrase on the PBS “Fifties” televised concerts where the surviving members of the era's do-wop and rock ‘n roll stars recover their youth with the assistance of back-up and replacement singers one quarter their age but, apart from that, I think that is "as dead as a Dodo, daddy-o!".

For what it's worth, the 2013 young adult novel Never Fade uses the presumed common knowledge of that question/response as a minor plot point. And I'm pretty sure I heard it as a kid (I'm not that old!)