Talk:Bob's your uncle

This is a genuine set phrase but this article is rubbish. &mdash; Hippietrail 02:23, 16 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Today, young people don't say "Bob's your uncle" any longer. It's an old idiom now. 72.140.235.202 04:30, 31 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Old, perhaps, but not dead. And not that old.  I've heard it from thirtysomething or early fortysomething speakers in England, as a matter of course.  This would have been late 90s; your call whether that's old.  I've also seen it on late 90s early 00s BBC TV.  Mind, this is BBC America, aimed at a somewhat older demographic.  I've also heard it on American children's shows as a faux-britishism, completely misused, e.g., "As sure as Bob's you're uncle".  Heh?  One of the BBC America shows (maybe Dalziel and Pascoe?) used it somewhat ironically, as "... and Robert is your mother's brother" or some such.
 * "Old" idioms can persist longer than people think, either because they pass into the mainstream (e.g., American cool, jazz, rock and roll) or because people like to bring them back for an ironic "retro" effect (e.g., gee whiz sounds very dated to American ears &mdash; think Leave it to Beaver, but people still say it for fun) -dmh 20:11, 10 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt. w:user:Stevebritgimp 20 April 2008

Saved comment from Transwiki:Bob's your uncle: Goldenrowley 04:44, 5 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I have never heard Bob's your uncle being used to mean exactly "no problem" or "the solution is simple", though the example - as in: "insert the plug, press the switch, and Bob's your uncle." - is fine. I would suggest it could be better paraphrased as "you are/it is... ready to go" - which also realtes to th US restaurants that are apparently called "Bob's your Uncle" (the food's ready to go - literally). - the preceding unsigned comment is by Chriscross 11:40, 1 March 2007

Note that a New Zealander friend tells me it's used there as well. This might be a general Commonwealth expression. We could probably dig up attestations for AU and NZ too. Dcoetzee (talk) 09:35, 6 August 2012 (UTC) --- Basically bob's your uncle is a simple way of saying ' and that's how it's done'

UK, Ireland, Canada, South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand

So basically every English-speaking country other than the US.

Hong Kong?
Born (albeit early 2000s I'll give you that) and raised, never heard this used in HK. Asked my former classmate who now lives in the UK, and he didn't recall hearing it in HK either. But I feel like if a term hasn't been actively used in 20 years, it should at least be marked as "dated". Although I don't know how to do that specifically for the Hong Kong tag. Insaneguy1083 (talk) 15:15, 4 June 2024 (UTC)