Fanny Adams

[hric...@gmail.com]

I'm a Canadian living in Canada with a British woman who often uses the expression "Fanny Adams" as a substitute for "nothing at all." I believe this expression is not used very often in North America and perhaps somebody can tell me if it used in any other parts of the English-speaking world aside from Britain.

Thanks

[Reinhold {Rey} Aman]

hric...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> I'm a Canadian living in Canada with a British woman who often uses
> the expression "Fanny Adams" as a substitute for "nothing at all."
>

"Fanny Adams" is a euphemistic *substitute* for "fuck all."
It *means* "nothing at all."

--
~~~ Reinhold {Rey} Aman ~~~

[ANMC...@alum.wpi.edu]

I believe some old crocks from the Maritimes and Newfistan still used it for "mystery meat" in the last 40 years or so, if old memory serves. That's a separate usage, though.

AN "Hoffaburgers never caught on so much" McC

[Brett Dunbar]

In message <56F0A0CF...@sonic.net>, Reinhold {Rey} Aman
<am...@sonic.net> writes

>hric...@gmail.com wrote:
>>
>> I'm a Canadian living in Canada with a British woman who often uses
>> the expression "Fanny Adams" as a substitute for "nothing at all."
>>
>"Fanny Adams" is a euphemistic *substitute* for "fuck all."
>It *means* "nothing at all."

It's a reference to the brutal murder and dismemberment of an eight year
old girl on 24 August 1867. It was a rather tasteless joke about what
was in tins of meat.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fanny_Adams>

[...]
Phrase

In 1869 new rations of tinned mutton were introduced for British seamen.
They were unimpressed by it, and suggested it might be the butchered
remains of Fanny Adams. The way her body had been strewn over a wide
area presumably encouraged speculation that parts of her had been found
at the Royal Navy victualling yard in Deptford, which was a large
facility which included stores, a bakery and an abattoir.

"Fanny Adams" became slang for mutton or stew and then for anything
worthless – from which comes the current use of "sweet Fanny Adams"
(or just "sweet F.A.") to mean "nothing at all". It can be seen as a
euphemism for "fuck all" – which means the same. The large tins the
mutton was delivered in were reused as mess tins. Mess tins or cooking
pots are still known as Fannys.

This is not the only example of military slang relating to unpopular
rations: even today, tins of steak and kidney pudding are known as
"babies' heads".
--
Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search http://www.mersenne.org/prime.htm
Livejournal http://brett-dunbar.livejournal.com/
Brett Dunbar

[RH Draney]

On 3/21/2016 7:23 PM, Brett Dunbar wrote:
>
> This is not the only example of military slang relating to unpopular
> rations: even today, tins of steak and kidney pudding are known as
> "babies' heads".

We do dysphemisms thispond; "shit on a shingle" is the familiar name for
what the nutritionists insist is called "creamed chipped beef on toast"....r

[Peter Moylan]

I once lived in a place where the cook was proud of his beef olives. We
called them stuffed turds.

--
Peter Moylan http://www.pmoylan.org
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

[Peter Moylan]

On 2016-Mar-22 12:33, Reinhold {Rey} Aman wrote:
> hric...@gmail.com wrote:
>>
>> I'm a Canadian living in Canada with a British woman who often uses
>> the expression "Fanny Adams" as a substitute for "nothing at all."
>>
> "Fanny Adams" is a euphemistic *substitute* for "fuck all."
> It *means* "nothing at all."

In AusE the euphemism is almost always "sweet Fanny Adams", although I
think "sweet fuck all" is more common.

[CDB]

As Rey says. Also "Sweet Fanny Adams". I recall from the Bony novels
that Australians sometimes say "Sweet Fairy Anne" for the same thing. I
used to wonder if that indicated French influence ("fait rien").

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bony_(character)

[charles]

In article <ncr9l2$1a78$1...@gioia.aioe.org>,

"ca ne fait rien" in full - a WW1 - "San Fairy Anne" in BrE.

> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bony_(character)

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

On Tue, 22 Mar 2016 20:00:47 +1100, Peter Moylan
<pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:

>On 2016-Mar-22 12:33, Reinhold {Rey} Aman wrote:
>> hric...@gmail.com wrote:
>>>
>>> I'm a Canadian living in Canada with a British woman who often uses
>>> the expression "Fanny Adams" as a substitute for "nothing at all."
>>>
>> "Fanny Adams" is a euphemistic *substitute* for "fuck all."
>> It *means* "nothing at all."
>
>In AusE the euphemism is almost always "sweet Fanny Adams", although I
>think "sweet fuck all" is more common.

I don't know how frequent it is in BrE today. I was told that "FA" was
short for "fuck all" and that "Fanny Adams" was a euphemistic expansion
of "FA" with all of them meaning "nothing"

OED:

Fanny Adams, n.

Etymology: < Fanny Adams, the name of a child who was murdered and
dismembered at Alton, Hampshire, England, in August 1867.

1. Naut. slang. Now hist. and rare.
a. Tinned meat.

1889 A. Barrère & C. G. Leland Dict. Slang Fanny Adams (naval),
tinned mutton.
1906 Gentleman's Mag. 301 640 ‘Fanny Adams’—a kind of potted
meat much consumed in the senior Service, and so called because a
young lady of that name was lost to her friends and relations
about the time that it first became an item of the naval menu.
1927 Blackwood's Mag. Feb. 259/2 ‘Fanny Adams’ (or preserved
mutton) brought from the ship.

b. Stew.

1962 W. Granville Dict. Sailors' Slang 46/1 Fanny Adams, general
nautical slang for stew or hash.

2. slang. Freq. in sweet Fanny Adams: nothing at all.
Sometimes interpreted as a euphemism for ‘sweet fuck all’ in the
same sense: cf. F.A. n. at F n. Initialisms 3a.

1919 W. H. Downing Digger Dial. 22 F.A., ‘Fanny Adams’, or
‘Sweet Fanny Adams’—nothing; vacuity.
....


F, n.

I3.
a. (Abbreviations given here with the full stop are frequently found
without it.)

F.A. n. = Fanny Adams n. 2.

1919 W. H. Downing Digger Dial.22 F.A. ‘Fanny Adams’, or ‘Sweet
Fanny Adams’—nothing; vacuity.
1930 J. Brophy & E. Partridge Songs & Slang Brit. Soldier:
1914–1918 123 F.A. Sometimes lengthened into Sweet F.A. or
bowdlerized into Sweet Fanny Adams. Used to mean ‘nothing’ where
something was expected.
1944 H. T. Hopkinson in Penguin New Writing 20 128 Bread—that's
about what we got as kids. Bread, and sweet F.A.
1967 J. Gardner Madrigal ix. 251 The small industrial
organisation whose own security officers know sweet FA.

It seems possible that "Fanny Adams" was chosen as a bowdlerisation of
"fuck all"/"FA" simply because that name was already well known, not
because of any meaningful connection between the person of that name and
"nothing".


--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)

[CDB]

On 22/03/2016 7:28 AM, charles wrote:

> CDB <belle...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> hric...@gmail.com wrote:

>>> I'm a Canadian living in Canada with a British woman who often uses
>>> the expression "Fanny Adams" as a substitute for "nothing at all." I
>>> believe this expression is not used very often in North America and
>>> perhaps somebody can tell me if it used in any other parts of the
>>> English-speaking world aside from Britain.

>> As Rey says. Also "Sweet Fanny Adams". I recall from the Bony novels
>> that Australians sometimes say "Sweet Fairy Anne" for the same thing. I
>> used to wonder if that indicated French influence ("fait rien").

> "ca ne fait rien" in full - a WW1 - "San Fairy Anne" in BrE.

>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bony_(character)

Aha. Thanks.

A good example of an expression with more than one origin.

[Charles Bishop]

In article <624b08ed-97db-4814...@googlegroups.com>,

I've come across "sweet Fanny Adams" (no remembered context) so perhaps
this could be addressed as well?

--
charles

[Katy Jennison]

On 22/03/2016 12:30, Peter Duncanson [BrE] wrote:
> On Tue, 22 Mar 2016 20:00:47 +1100, Peter Moylan
> <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:
>
>> On 2016-Mar-22 12:33, Reinhold {Rey} Aman wrote:
>>> hric...@gmail.com wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I'm a Canadian living in Canada with a British woman who often uses
>>>> the expression "Fanny Adams" as a substitute for "nothing at all."
>>>>
>>> "Fanny Adams" is a euphemistic *substitute* for "fuck all."
>>> It *means* "nothing at all."
>>
>> In AusE the euphemism is almost always "sweet Fanny Adams", although I
>> think "sweet fuck all" is more common.
>
> I don't know how frequent it is in BrE today. I was told that "FA" was
> short for "fuck all" and that "Fanny Adams" was a euphemistic expansion
> of "FA" with all of them meaning "nothing"

My entirely subjective impression is that "sweet FA" is fairly common,
whereas "sweet Fanny Adams" and "sweet fuck all" are hardly encountered
at all. "Fuck all" without the "sweet" is probably the most common.

--
Katy Jennison

[Janet]

In article <624b08ed-97db-4814...@googlegroups.com>,
hric...@gmail.com says...

>
> I'm a Canadian living in Canada with a British woman who often uses the expression "Fanny Adams" as a substitute for "nothing at all." I believe this expression is not used very often in North America and perhaps somebody can tell me if it used in any other parts of the English-speaking world aside from Britain.
>
> Thanks

In Br E, "Fanny Adams" is a genteel version of the term F.A, which
stands for fuck-all.


Janet.

[Peter Moylan]

If "sweet fairy Anne" was ever Australian slang, it has long disappeared
by now, because I don't remember ever encountering it.

I have met "San Fairy Anne" in my reading, and of course that does come
from French.

[CDB]

On 22/03/2016 9:47 PM, Peter Moylan wrote:

> CDB wrote:
>> hric...@gmail.com wrote:

>>> I'm a Canadian living in Canada with a British woman who often
>>> uses the expression "Fanny Adams" as a substitute for "nothing
>>> at all." I believe this expression is not used very often in
>>> North America and perhaps somebody can tell me if it used in any
>>> other parts of the English-speaking world aside from Britain.

>> As Rey says. Also "Sweet Fanny Adams". I recall from the Bony
>> novels that Australians sometimes say "Sweet Fairy Anne" for the
>> same thing. I used to wonder if that indicated French influence
>> ("fait rien").

>> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bony_(character)

> If "sweet fairy Anne" was ever Australian slang, it has long
> disappeared by now, because I don't remember ever encountering it.

> I have met "San Fairy Anne" in my reading, and of course that does
> come from French.

It is certainly much more in use, and no doubt it came first.

Google doesn't give access to the Upfield books. This use is pretty
clear, but it seems to be British:

017 His friend had been in the army before – he got £5 when he joined up
SC not having been in before got sweet fairy Anne.

[Oliver Cromm]

* Katy Jennison:

I wouldn't have understood any of them (and misunderstood the one
you call most common).

--
'Ah yes, we got that keyboard from Small Gods when they threw out
their organ. Unfortunately for complex theological reasons they
would only give us the white keys, so we can only program in C'.
Colin Fine in sci.lang

[Katy Jennison]

On 23/03/2016 17:53, Oliver Cromm wrote:
> * Katy Jennison:
>
>> On 22/03/2016 12:30, Peter Duncanson [BrE] wrote:
>>> On Tue, 22 Mar 2016 20:00:47 +1100, Peter Moylan
>>> <pe...@pmoylan.org.invalid> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 2016-Mar-22 12:33, Reinhold {Rey} Aman wrote:
>>>>> hric...@gmail.com wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm a Canadian living in Canada with a British woman who often uses
>>>>>> the expression "Fanny Adams" as a substitute for "nothing at all."
>>>>>>
>>>>> "Fanny Adams" is a euphemistic *substitute* for "fuck all."
>>>>> It *means* "nothing at all."
>>>>
>>>> In AusE the euphemism is almost always "sweet Fanny Adams", although I
>>>> think "sweet fuck all" is more common.
>>>
>>> I don't know how frequent it is in BrE today. I was told that "FA" was
>>> short for "fuck all" and that "Fanny Adams" was a euphemistic expansion
>>> of "FA" with all of them meaning "nothing"
>>
>> My entirely subjective impression is that "sweet FA" is fairly common,
>> whereas "sweet Fanny Adams" and "sweet fuck all" are hardly encountered
>> at all. "Fuck all" without the "sweet" is probably the most common.
>
> I wouldn't have understood any of them (and misunderstood the one
> you call most common).
>

Sorry, I should have made it clear that I was talking about BrE usage.

--
Katy Jennison

[Oliver Cromm]

* Katy Jennison:

Sure, I was hinting that not only "Fanny Adams", but even "fuck
all" is at least rare in these parts. I would have understood
"fuck all" as "the world stinks", "leave me alone".

--
If you kill one person, you go to jail; if you kill 20, you go
to an institution for the insane; if you kill 20,000, you get
political asylum. -- Reed Brody, special counsel
for prosecutions at Human Rights Watch

[Glenn Knickerbocker]

On 3/22/2016 8:30 AM, Peter Duncanson [BrE] wrote:
> I don't know how frequent it is in BrE today.

In the US, I don't think I've ever heard it, but I would have guessed
the meaning from familiarity with Love and Rockets' 1996 album title
"Sweet F.A." The abbreviation wasn't familiar to me back then but was
easily understood even before hearing it expanded in the title track.

¬R

[Jerry Friedman]

Those wacky Brits also use "sod-all", "bugger-all", and "damn-all" to
mean "nothing". I don't know of any others.

--
Jerry Friedman
"No Trump" bridge-themed political shirts: cafepress.com/jerrysdesigns
Bumper stickers ditto: cafepress/jerrysstickers