Another short post for today. 

Again, a thought came to me as I was laying in bed last night. Actually, it was a phrase: “Bob’s your uncle!”

Do you know this one? Apparently, it’s a British idiom, rather than an American one, but I know it all the same. Probably because I’ve always loved British sitcoms. It’s frightening how realistic Absolutely Fabulous was to real life as a PR Associate. 

Humor aside, the expression “Bob’s your uncle” means that everything is alright. Hunky-dorey! Isn’t it wonderful that I described one idiom with another? Or is that merely an expression?

I started wondering where in the world this saying came from. This then led me down the rabbit hole of idioms in general. And not only where idioms come from, but where sayings come from. And what’s the difference exactly? Then what is the difference between idioms and slang? When does something go from being slang to being an idiom? Is this even really an idiom?

It resulted in quite an interesting morning. While I did my morning stretches (one of my goals for this month), I started Googling.

It turns out, no one really knows where the phrase comes from. There are some theories, of course. The main one is that it refers to the nepotism of Lord Salisbury. He appointed his nephew quite a few political posts which led to his nephew’s celebrated political career. Lord Salisbury’s name was Robert… or Bob. 

Though this theory fits perfectly with the meaning of the phrase “all is well if you have an uncle who can basically make sure your career is taken care of” many people discard this theory because it was centuries until the saying seems to have come into use in 1920 while Bobby boy gave his nephew political appointments in the late 1800s.

Quite a gap between the associated occurrence and actual use of the phrase. 

Though not impossible. Which leads me to my next thought which was - how are idioms created? 

Theoretically, a savvy historian could have known about this nepotistic relationship. Years after the fact, when trying to express their feeling of carefree happiness, they could have associated it with the insouciance of having an uncle in power. “Bob’s your uncle!” could have been created just like that.

But we don’t know that. I don’t think we’ll ever truly know where this idiom came from. 

So instead of trying to figure it out, I’ll answer some of the other questions that popped into my mind:

What’s the difference between an idiom and an expression?

An idiom is an expression. It’s like the whole square and rectangle thing, I think. All idioms are expressions (they're actually called idiomatic expressions), but not every expression is an idiom. See, an expression is simply a significant word or phrase. An idiomatic expression is a phrase that is made up of words that do not literally mean what they express. 

“Bob’s your uncle” doesn’t literally mean that you have an uncle and his name is Bob, even though that’s what the phrase says. 

What’s the difference between an idiom and a saying?

According to this source, a saying is a string of words that express the wisdom of one’s culture. For example, a proverb, an adage, anything that expresses truth as known by one’s culture. The trick is that often a saying seems like its words, like an idiom, do not connect with its meaning. 

For example, “a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.”

The difference is that there’s a lesson/prophetic angle to the saying where as idioms like “it’s raining cats dogs” (or men if we want to have more fun) are just describing something. Not teaching us anything!

Actually, “it’s raining men” by the classic Weather Girls is not actually an idiom because it does express what it’s words mean. Men are coming down! They’re everywhere.

What’s the difference between an idiom and slang?

Thanks to ThoughtCo. I was able to quickly discover that unlike slang or jargon, idioms are widely understood by almost everyone.

What’s the difference between an idiom and a metaphor?

Similar to a saying, the words used in a metaphor do have a direct connection to what they’re describing, even if it may not seem like it. Rather than trying to use a phrase to describe something other than its meaning (an idiom), metaphors are all about creating phrases that describe exactly what you’re trying to describe. 

To be honest, this last question has left me in a bit of a whirlpool. It feels like I’m writing in circles trying to describe the difference between these two, but it is there. Psst! Did you catch the metaphor and simile I used there? Neither of which were idioms.

I think it’s all about the connection words can have with each other. A mountain can represent anything that’s grand, large, far away—because it is all of those things. That makes it a metaphor. 

Whereas I’m not sure legs or breaking them have any such connection with luck. 

Where do idioms come from?

From what I’ve read, it seems that idioms have unique origin stories. There’s no formula for creating an origin. However, many theories have certain things in common. They reflect certain actions that were common for certain groups of people (which makes me believe that slang can transform into idioms over time). Or that they were created from significant historical/political events.

If you’re interested in reading about some famous American idioms and their speculated origins, I found this article interesting!

What about you?

Do you have a favorite idiom? Have you thought about the words and their true meaning vs the meaning of the expression? Do you have favorite idioms from other countries? Share!