OFF: Uncle Bob and Stoned crows

[J Strobridge]

Just did a bit of reading around and found that "bob" (apart from being
an old form of UK coinage) once meant someone who was a minor kind
of thief or cheap con-man who would trick you.   Also that "uncle"
once meant a pawnbroker.   Whether any underlying sense of these two
definitions were amalgamated into the phrase "Bob's your uncle" I can't
discover but since the comment is usually used in a derogatory sense
where something suddenly happens but can't be relied on or trusted,
the element or trickery or uncertainty is usually there.

"Stone the Crows" is listed as a purely Australian phrase but "crows"
are also defined as lazy, good for nothing layabouts.   Whether
punishment or something else is implied doesn't get a mention!

jill

obOtherBizarreAlternativeDefinitions> crown and feathers, bobbles
and toggles

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J.D.Strobridge at ed.ac.uk                         eset08 at tattoo.ed.ac.uk
                                                ELIJSA at srv0.arts.ed.ac.uk
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