The joy of language being a fluid and adaptable thing is that we’re always playing with new expressions and words.
Think about Google. The name of a company, but how language evolves over time, we nearly all use it as a verb without questioning it.
Language has always evolved, like with cockney rhyming slang and we’re still not finished. Covid made us rely on some repeat phrases, many of which became increasingly annoying, fast, and Love Island has introduced a whole new lexicon into our lives.
But what if we did decide to question some of the sayings and phrases that have become part of everyday conversations? Like when people swap out a profanity for ‘Gordon Bennett’? And just why is Bob so many people’s uncle?
Let’s explore some of the people who have entered our daily language…
Who was Gordon Bennett and why do we use his name instead of swearing?
If your name was used as an exclamation or swear word, you might not take it as a compliment.
Well, that is Gordon Bennett’s legacy, but who was the man behind the expression?
Many sources suggest that there could be a few contenders for the crown.
The BBC explains that there were two famous Gordon Bennetts who could be the source of the saying, a father and son duo.
James Gordon Bennett Snr was a Scottish-born journalist, famous in the US for founding the New York Herald and conducting the first ever newspaper interview.
His son, James Gordon Bennett Jnr, used his inheritance to sponsor the Bennett Trophy in motor racing from 1900 to 1905, and in 1906 established a hot-air balloon race that is still held today. Gordon Bennett Jnr was probably the pioneer in what we’d call being an international playboy today.
Explaining how it might be the latter who is the inspiration for the colloquialism, the BBC reports that Gordon Bennet Jnr holds the Guinness Book of Records entry for ‘Greatest Engagement Faux Pas.’
They claim, one very drunken evening he turned up late to a posh party held by his future in-laws, and ended up urinating into a fireplace in full view of everyone.
However, there are other claims to who Gordon Bennett could be.
HistoryExtra suggests the man behind the expression could be Henry Gordon Bennett, a decorated Australian general who served in both World Wars.
When Singapore was surrendered to the Japanese in 1942, he escaped while his men were left to become prisoners of war – giving plenty of reason for men to take his name in anger.
However, despite all of these potentials, the truth is… maybe there wasn’t one specific man behind the myth.
John Simpson, chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary, told the BBC: ‘The expression is probably just a euphemistic extension of “God!” or “Gawd” turned into a proper name to weaken the swear-word.’
He continued: ‘There doesn’t have to be a specific person behind a phrase,’ citing ‘taking the mickey’ as an example.
Who was Bob, and why is ‘Bob’s your uncle’ such a common saying?
Bob’s your uncle has become another way of saying ‘and there you have it’ or ‘and that’s that.’
Journalist Fraser McAlpine, in his BBC America Anglophenia blog, offers two different possibilities as to where this phrase comes from.
The first explains that it could have been a satirical swipe at Conservative prime minister Lord Salisbury’s controversial decision in 1887 to appoint his nephew Arthur Balfour as chief secretary for Ireland.
Benjamin Norris, assistant editor of the Oxford English Dictionary agrees with this idea, adding: ‘In light of Lord Salisbury’s Christian name being Robert – Bob, of course, being a familiar form of this name – and the appointment being seen by many at the time as nepotistic this theory is an appealing one.’
However, McAlpine propositions that the phrase wasn’t recorded officially until around the 1930s, so perhaps this is a retroactive explainer.
Instead, McAlpine questions whether the phrase could have something to do with Sir Robert Peel, who created the Metropolitan Police.
Officers are colloquially known as Bobbies, and ‘perhaps he had a roguish nephew who was believed to have been kept from prison by his uncle,’ McAlpine suggests.
A smart Alec
A professor at the Missouri University of Science and Technology discovered that being a smart Alec – a colloquialism for being too smart for your own good – was derived from a real-life person person.
Alec Hoag was a pimp and a conman who lived in New York City in the 1840s.
He and his wife, Melinda, would work as a team to trick unsuspecting men out of whatever they had on them at the time.
Melinda, acting as a prostitute, would seduce men and bring them to her room. However, Alec would sneakily root through the men’s clothing, steal from them and then burst through the door, furious at catching his wife having an affair.
The men would flee in a hurry, only realising later on that they had been robbed. However, they weren’t likely to report the crime as society wouldn’t look kindly on them frequenting the services of a prostitute.
Eventually they were caught and, in prison, he earned the nickname ‘Smart Aleck,’ after being called it by one of his arresting officers, for being too smart for his own good.
Soon, other officers began referring to criminals who thought they were smarter than the police, as ‘smart alecks.’
‘Who are you, the Queen of Sheba?’
When someone has a slightly inflated sense of themselves, we might be quick to ask them if they think they’re the Queen of Sheba.
But why?
Well, the Queen of Sheba is a figure first mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, and her story has evolved and adapted throughout Jewish, Islamic and Ethiopian scriptures.
However, nearly all accounts involving the Queen of Sheba show her as an incredibly rich woman who travels to King Solomon bringing frankincense, myrrh, gold and precious jewels.
She is reluctant to believe the tales of King Solomon and insists on challenging his skills and knowledge until she is satisfied.
Murphy’s law
The idea behind Murphy’s Law is stating that anything that can go wrong, will go (or has gone) wrong.
According to Brewer’s Dictionary of Irish Phrase & Fable, the expression was created by aerospace engineer Captain Edward A Murphy while he was working on a series of US Air Force studies to test human tolerance to acceleration and deceleration.
He coined the phrase after he observed someone setting up an experiment that required the attachment of 16 accelerometers. Each consisted of a sensor that could be attached to its mount in two different ways – and the subject had attached every single one the wrong way round.
‘They’ve done a Lord Lucan’
To do a Lord Lucan is to disappear without a trace.
Richard John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan was a British peer who disappeared after being suspected of murder.
He disappeared in 1974 and was not seen again.
He was declared officially dead in 2016.
Bloody Norah!
Bloody Norah, like Gordon Bennett, can be said when you want to swear but you’re trying to show some restraint.
A cry of anger or exasperation, who was the original Norah and why was she so bloody?
One person, simply known as ‘Ronnie’ had a theory in the Guardian’s Notes and Queries section.
The (unverified) story has it that the original bloody Norah was a woman called – you guessed it – Norah. She was allegedly the maid for the wealthy Duke Wodingtonshire (a title that doesn’t appear to exist hence why this is the unverified story…) in the 17th century.
She earned the name Bloody Norah after she killed a servant of the Duke – with a stick of celery. When the Duke caught her repeatedly slapping the bloody corpse with the stick of celery he shouted: ‘Oh dear god, you’re all bloody, Norah….’
Three years later, after imprisoning her for her crimes, the Duke set her free but Norah insisted on staying employed by the Duke. Reluctantly the Duke gave her a job cleaning the stables only to find she had killed another servant, this time with a kettle.
When the Duke found her once again maiming her victim with the dented kettle, he cried, ‘Oh, bloody Norah!’
The expression is said to have come from the Duke himself, as he would tell the story of Norah to all he knew and would always refer to her as ‘Bloody Norah.’
Is it true? Who knows but it does make a great story to share.
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