And Bob's Your Uncle
Robert Guerrero 
Why didn't certain British idioms make it across the pond? Got any others? And for that matter why didn't certain American idioms make it to the Olde Sod? Like, Up shit's Creek, I'll Be Damned, Make a long story short, Let you off the hook....I could on....
| by Anonymous | reply 49 | May 20, 2023 12:44 PM |
That’s not always true.
“You fucking cunt” has become quite popular in the States now… and not just in musty old tea shops!
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | May 18, 2023 10:32 PM |
Prepare for it to become more common OP, as you pestilent Yanks besmirch our beautiful game.
It's bad enough that grubby ol!garch and She!kh money is all over it, now we have to put up with this rubbish.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 3 | May 18, 2023 10:41 PM |
I've never heard a British person call someone "a son of a bitch" as a form of abuse.
"Fucking twat" is more British.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | May 18, 2023 10:42 PM |
I'm not going to lie to you but truth be told I'll be there now in a minute.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | May 18, 2023 10:46 PM |
R4....yeah, you're right. I haven't either. What about cocksucker? I've never heard a Brit say, "Those cocksuckers better not mess with me."
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | May 19, 2023 12:54 AM |
R6 I'd sooner call someone a nonce.
We Brits enjoy a bit of noshing off, it's not really seen as an insulting or derogatory thing.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | May 19, 2023 1:01 AM |
What the hell is "Bob's your uncle" supposed to mean, anyway?
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | May 19, 2023 1:55 AM |
Bob's your uncle means "sorted" or "done and dusted".
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | May 19, 2023 9:44 AM |
R11, what does THAT mean in American?
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | May 19, 2023 9:51 AM |
I always get a chuckle when some American tries to sound British by saying "jolly good" or "...and all that rot," and "Bob's your uncle" is one of those kinds of phrases. I'm up late night in the U.S. which is daytime in the U.K. and so I see a lot of real Brits on social media, and the Americans pretending to be Brits rarely sound authentic.
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | May 19, 2023 9:52 AM |
R12 you've never heard the term "sorted"?
Bob's your uncle/sorted/done and dusted are all terms for finishing something or solving a problem.
You've got a third date and he wants to breed you but you're still on antibiotics to clear up the gonorrhoea, which you've not told him about. Just tell him you've got diarrhoea and you'll have to stick to oral and bob's your uncle.
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | May 19, 2023 10:07 AM |
"Bob's your uncle" makes me cringe for some reason.
| by Anonymous | reply 15 | May 19, 2023 3:52 PM |
The late Judy Carne said she got quite a look from hotel staff when she asked if someone could "knock her up" at 8am do she could get ready for an audition (this was on her first trip to the US). She was quite surprised at the difference in the meaning of that request in the US vs. the UK!
| by Anonymous | reply 16 | May 19, 2023 4:01 PM |
I'm too young to have ever heard the term "knocker upper" or getting knocked up meaning a wake up call.
Knocked up means pregnant, and knockers is slang for lady's tits.
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 17 | May 19, 2023 4:15 PM |
Why do some Americans think that people in the UK speak like characters from Mary Poppins?
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | May 19, 2023 4:16 PM |
[quote] "Bob's your uncle" makes me cringe for some reason.
Perhaps you have an actual uncle named Bob—WHO MOLESTED YOU.
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | May 19, 2023 4:29 PM |
Getting knocked up as it relates to getting pregnant probably relates to the British euphemism in that getting knocked up (pregnant) could likely involve being woken up by a man wanting to fuck.
The likely origin of Bob’s you uncle puts it in the early 1920’s and America already had it own well-established social culture and wouldn’t be borrowing slang from the mother country.
| by Anonymous | reply 22 | May 19, 2023 4:34 PM |
It’s really accelerating now in the digital world — we’re saying british things and they’re saying American things.
I say “for fucks sake” all the time and that’s a britishism. I also say “do us a favor.”
I’m sure they cringe to hear certain Americanisms. I really hate some of the britishisms.
Examples:
Hits back at, or even worse, claps back at (please fucking die if you say that)
Shit pronounced “shy t”
Gone missing (what?)
Sorted, spot on, and sussed (these are fine when Brits say them but I hate when Americans do it)
Gobsmacked (No one is allowed to say this, ever)
Also really hate the pretentious use of superfluous vowels by Americans in writing. When an American writes “flavour” it’s time to get the flamethrower.
S
| by Anonymous | reply 23 | May 19, 2023 4:39 PM |
I've caught myself saying "feck" in place of "fuck". Sorry, but I love Mrs. Agnes Brown.
| by Anonymous | reply 25 | May 19, 2023 4:47 PM |
For some reason there are Americans who try to pretend to be British on DL but they never get it right. The BRF threads are full of them and any actual Brit can spot them a mile off.
Growing up in the 80s in the UK if you used the word 'guy' to refer to a person you'd be laughed at but it seems to have gained a bit more acceptance though it is often used in a slightly ironic way. You might say "Hi guys!" as you greet a group of friends in the pub but it's kind of meant sarcastically, in an American over-friendly way.
Generally speaking, Americanisms are frowned upon and met with suspicion. A friend came back from living in the US for a couple of years and used the word 'skillet' in conversation and has never lived it down.
| by Anonymous | reply 26 | May 19, 2023 4:49 PM |
"Knocked up" refers to the motions of sexual intercourse. Does this really need explaining? Isn't this obvious? "Knock" isn't always a literal knock. "Knocked around" is a similar usage. It refers to rapid and forceful movement, not rapping on a surface.
It has nothing to do with getting "woken up," especially since the sense is clearly illicit and wouldn't assume two people literally sleeping together and co-habitating as if married. "Knocked up" often referred to the outcome of a one night stand or other casual sexual relationships.
| by Anonymous | reply 27 | May 19, 2023 4:50 PM |
I hate to be that guy, but it’s Noah Webster, not Daniel Webster, who was the lexicographer.
| by Anonymous | reply 28 | May 19, 2023 5:03 PM |
R27, getting “knocked up” in the British sense does refer to being woken up by someone knocking in your door. Before alarm clocks were widely available but people had started working in industrialized jobs in factories, people would pay someone to walk past their door very early in the morning and knock loudly to ensure they didn’t oversleep.
| by Anonymous | reply 29 | May 19, 2023 5:31 PM |
“Bobby dazzler” — a great guy/gal “It went tits up” - A real disaster “He really got on my tits” - he really got on my nerves
| by Anonymous | reply 30 | May 19, 2023 5:43 PM |
[quote] “You fucking cunt” has become quite popular in the States now… and not just in musty old tea shops!
We have to thank Princess Charlotte for popularizing the phrase internationally.
| by Anonymous | reply 31 | May 19, 2023 5:47 PM |
R29 A hundred years ago maybe.
You might say you 'knocked for' someone if you went round to their house and knocked on their door, but you wouldn't say you 'knocked them up' unless you'd impregnated them.
| by Anonymous | reply 32 | May 19, 2023 5:52 PM |
Maybe R32 has me on block but there's a link to a BBC article explaining "knocker uppers" in my post at R17
| by Anonymous | reply 33 | May 19, 2023 6:14 PM |
[quote]Shit pronounced “shy t”
Shite *shy-te" is more of a regional variation. FUCKING GOBSHITE is a favourite in Liverpool and Glasgow.
| by Anonymous | reply 34 | May 19, 2023 6:16 PM |
R29, thanks for the unsolicited regurgitation of information already mentioned in this thread, but that's still not what it means in the US. "Knocked up" likely evolved differently here. It refers to sexual intercourse, not actual knocking on something. "Knocking" doesn't lead to pregnancy, but fucking does.
| by Anonymous | reply 35 | May 19, 2023 7:03 PM |
Does knocked up really mean JUST sex in the US and not pregnancy/breeding for dirty filthy gays?
| by Anonymous | reply 36 | May 19, 2023 7:38 PM |
I got knocked up in a knocking shop.
| by Anonymous | reply 37 | May 19, 2023 8:31 PM |
[quote]I got knocked up in a knocking shop.
Well you have got a smashing pair of knockers darling.
| by Anonymous | reply 38 | May 19, 2023 8:34 PM |
Bob’s your uncle will forever remind me of that Hitchcock movie Frenzy. It was the serial rapist /killer’s trademark phrase.
| by Anonymous | reply 39 | May 19, 2023 8:45 PM |
[quote]We Brits enjoy a bit of noshing off, it's not really seen as an insulting or derogatory thing.
An email sent by journalist Giles Coren chastising a sub editor was leaked online.
Coren had written about the gay part of Soho and used a phrase "going for a nosh" and the editor changed it to "going for some nosh", which totally changed the meaning.
| by Anonymous | reply 40 | May 19, 2023 8:51 PM |
I like "sleeping rough." Now that editors have decreed "homeless" to be bad for some reason and we're force-fed atrocities like "experiencing houselessness," I'd like to throw away all of it and just use "sleeping rough."
| by Anonymous | reply 41 | May 19, 2023 10:09 PM |
Are you American R41?
Rough sleeping and homelessness are two totally different things.
Rough sleeping is a category of homelessness, not an all inclusive term for people without homes, i.e. people living in hostels or temporary accommodation who have a roof over their heads but are still homeless.
| by Anonymous | reply 42 | May 19, 2023 10:21 PM |
Who are these editors? How do you know them? Are you a journalist? I've heard people say houseless but haven't heard anything about not saying homeless.
Are you triggered? You sound quite dramatic.
Why is everything here run through some right wing filter now? Every post has to have some wingnut faux-anxiety embedded in it. Fucking ridiculous.
| by Anonymous | reply 43 | May 19, 2023 10:42 PM |
R43 seems quite angry and ignorant.
There has been a push by some agencies away from homeless/homelessness and some groups prefer the term "unhoused".
I work in the NHS and there's always dialogue about how patients should be referred to - patients, clients, service users. There was a talk recently which referred to "people experiencing unwellness" where someone interrupted to ask "do you mean patients".
Offsite Link| by Anonymous | reply 44 | May 19, 2023 10:53 PM |
The phrase 'To Make a Long Story Short', has definitely crossed to the UK.
The rock band Spandau Ballet named their debut single after that phrase, they changed one word: "To Cut a Long Story Short".
Some lyrics: Oh, look at the strange boy
He finds it hard existing
To cut a long story short
I lost my mind
| by Anonymous | reply 45 | May 20, 2023 11:42 AM |
They use “chuffed” for being happy over something good that happens to them and “gutted” for something bad.
I used to watch EastEnders every week in the 90s and there was a lot of Cockney rhyming slang in that, like “porky pies” for lies. People would think you’re “mental” if you used that here.
| by Anonymous | reply 46 | May 20, 2023 11:54 AM |
Packet of three = cock & balls, this expression hasn't made it to the US.
| by Anonymous | reply 47 | May 20, 2023 12:19 PM |
"Bob's Your Uncle" is from the 19th century, when PM Robert Cecil appointed his inexperienced nephew Arthur Balfour as Minister for Ireland. It refers to something being extremely easy, like Balfour's nepo appointment to high office by his "Uncle Bob".
| by Anonymous | reply 48 | May 20, 2023 12:34 PM |
Chance would be a fine thing.
| by Anonymous | reply 49 | May 20, 2023 12:44 PM |
