Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt

A phrase used to emphasize how easily or quickly something can be done. Similar in meaning to "there you have it." Primarily heard in UK, Australia. All you have to do is combine all of the ingredients in one pot, let it cook, and then Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt! Then, once you loop that part around, Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt—you've got a perfect bow for your gift! Do you understand? You just have to insert the installation disc into your computer, and Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt! The program installs itself in a matter of minutes.

fanny

slang

1. The buttocks. Primarily heard in US. Kids, sit your fannies down and eat your dinner, now! I slapped him in the face when he put his hand on my fanny. That tight dress sure accentuates her fanny in the best way possible.

2. vulgar The vulva or vagina. Primarily heard in UK. I slapped him in the face when he put his hand on my fanny. Wax my fanny? No thank you!

fanny about

1. To waste time or procrastinate by doing something unproductive or unhelpful; to fool around or spend time idly. Primarily heard in UK. Would you quit fannying about and give me a hand cleaning the house? I should have started this essay last week, but I've been fannying about with my new video game console. Well, he only fannied about all day—of course he's not ready to go!

2. To wander around a place, especially in an aimless or idle manner. Primarily heard in UK. After I quit my job, I spent six months fannying about Paris. You've fannied about Europe for two years now. Any chance you'll settle down and get a job soon? I really enjoy taking a day off work in the spring so I can just fanny about the local botanical garden.

Fanny Adams

obsolete A ration of tinned mutton, as provided upon a naval ship. This macabre sobriquet was taken from the name of an eight-year-old girl who was brutally murdered in 1867, thus likening the quality of the meat rations to the remains of the young girl. I swear if I have to eat Fanny Adams one more time, I will throw myself overboard. After eating Fanny Adams for months upon months on the ship, you don't understand how nice it is to have a homecooked meal! A: "Ugh, Fanny Adams again?" B: "Better get used to it, kid—you're in the navy now."

fanny around

1. To waste time or procrastinate by doing something unproductive or unhelpful; to fool around or spend time idly. Primarily heard in UK. Would you quit fannying around and give me a hand cleaning the house? I should have started this essay last week, but I've been fannying around with my new video game console. Well, he only fannied around all day—of course he's not ready to go!

2. To wander around a place, especially in an aimless or meandering manner. Primarily heard in UK. After I quit my job, I spent six months fannying around Paris. You've fannied around Europe for two years now. Any chance you'll settle down and get a job soon? I really enjoy taking a day off work in the spring so I can just fanny around the local botanical garden.

fanny-dipper

slang A swimmer (in contrast to other surfers). Hey, watch out for those fanny-dippers when you go back out there with your surfboard. A: "I have an extra board if you want to go out with me." B: "No thanks, I'm perfectly happy here with fellow fanny-dippers." OK, let's head out, surfers. We'll catch you up with you fanny-dippers later.

Fanny's your aunt

Used as a humorous response to the phrase "Bob's your uncle," which is used to emphasize how easily or quickly something can be done. Primarily heard in UK, Australia. A: "All you have to do is combine all of the ingredients in one pot, let it cook, and then Bob's your uncle!" B: "And Fanny's your aunt!" A: "Then, once you loop that part around, Bob's your uncle." B: "Wow, and Fanny's your aunt—look at that perfect bow!" You just have to insert the installation disc into your computer, and Bob's your uncle and Fanny's your aunt! The program installs itself in a matter of minutes.

sweet Fanny Adams

slang Nothing at all. The term is a euphemistic substitution for "sweet fuck all," which means the same thing. Sometimes shortened to "sweet FA." I worked there for 20 years and was dismissed with sweet Fanny Adams to show for it!

sweet Fanny Adams

absolutely nothing at all. informal

Fanny Adams was the youthful victim in a famous murder case in 1867 , her body being mutilated and cut to pieces by the killer. With gruesome black humour, her name came to be used as a slang term for a type of tinned meat or stew recently introduced to the Royal Navy; the current meaning developed early in the 20th century. Sweet Fanny Adams is often abbreviated in speech to sweet FA , which is understood by many to be a euphemism for sweet fuck all .

fanny

n. the buttocks. (Euphemistic in the U.S. The term has taboo implications in the U.K.) He fell down right on his fanny.

fanny-bumper

n. an event that draws so many people that they bump into one another. There was a typically dull fanny-bumper in the village last night.

fanny-dipper

n. a swimmer, as opposed to a surfer. (California.) The fanny-dippers are not supposed to go out that far.

See also:

References in classic literature

Little Dorrit looked sorry, and glanced at Fanny with a troubled face.

On which occasion,' added Mrs Merdle, quitting her nest, and putting something in Fanny's hand, 'Miss Dorrit will permit me to say Farewell with best wishes in my own dull manner.'

'Well?' said Fanny, when they had gone a little way without speaking.

'Let my sister know, if you please, Mrs Merdle,' Fanny pouted, with a toss of her gauzy bonnet, 'that I had already had the honour of telling your son that I wished to have nothing whatever to say to him.'

'I am so sorry--don't be hurt--but, since you ask me what I have to say, I am so very sorry, Fanny, that you suffered this lady to give you anything.'

'Don't say that, dear Fanny. I do what I can for them.'

View in context

Fanny soon learnt how unnecessary had been her fears of a removal; and her spontaneous, untaught felicity on the discovery, conveyed some consolation to Edmund for his disappointment in what he had expected to be so essentially serviceable to her.

Fanny's relief, and her consciousness of it, were quite equal to her cousins'; but a more tender nature suggested that her feelings were ungrateful, and she really grieved because she could not grieve.

Norris, moving to go, "I can only say that my sole desire is to be of use to your family: and so, if Sir Thomas should ever speak again about my taking Fanny, you will be able to say that my health and spirits put it quite out of the question; besides that, I really should not have a bed to give her, for I must keep a spare room for a friend."

View in context

You 're as cross as a little bear to-day!" said Fanny, pushing her away.

"Come down and have dinner; that will amuse you;" and Fanny got up, pluming herself as a bird does before its flight.

Fanny chatted like a magpie, and Maud fidgeted, till Tom proposed to put her under the big dish-cover, which produced such an explosion, that the young lady was borne screaming away, by the much-enduring Katy.

Before she could continue, in came Fanny with the joyful news that Clara Bird had invited them both to go to the theatre with her that very evening, and would call for them at seven o'clock.

"What are you blushing so for?" asked Fanny, as the painted sylphs vanished.

She did not know how easy it was to "get used to it," as Fanny did; and it was well for her that the temptation was not often offered.

View in context