San fairy ann

[randy_byers]

Meanwhile on a discussion list a British emigre mentioned a phrase he heard from his mother when he was growing up, "san fairy ann," which meant that something was insignificant or meaningless, and he says it took him years to figure out it was from the French, "ça ne fait rien," probably brought back by his father after WWII. And if san fairy ann, there's no reason to fuss about it. Ça m'est egal. Saw met a gal.

Comments

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Took me years to realize that hors d'oeuvres, which I pronounced Hours D. Overs, was the same thing as the word pronounced orderves. I still find it slightly incredible.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I like the way that foreign phrases can get turned into nonsense English phrases. A classic example from the same phrase you cite is "horse (or whores) devours".

[grytpype-thynne.livejournal.com]

As soon as I looked at the three letters those words start with...

If he brought it back after WW2 from Europe it may be a corruption of a British phrase - 'Sweet Fanny Adams' which is itself the polite version of 'Sweet Fuck All', sometimes cut to SFA. For army use when someone enquires 'what difference will it make complaining?'

For the last British Corflu in the nineties I still treasure the look on Victor G's face when I described something as the "Dog's Bollocks'. Did I like it or hate it?

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Well? [expectant look]

Anyway, great stuff. Very interesting about the other SFA phrases. I wonder which came first.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

And of course it just occurred to me that "fanny" itself isn't always a polite word in Britain. Does that mean "Sweet Fanny Adams" dates from before "fanny" took on that slang meaning?

[intelligentrix.livejournal.com]

Holy synchronicity, batman! I just (i.e. last night) finished reading Mother Tongue by Bill Bryson, during the last chapter of which he cited exactly that example of foreign phrases surviving in a corrupted form in English. Ha! Also, before reading about it, I had never heard that particular bit of slang, although I know (and use) the French fairly often. Iiiiiinteresting. I love how the universe works, sometimes.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Very cool! So did Bryson talk about the related SFA phrases that grytpype_thynne mentions above?

[intelligentrix.livejournal.com]

Not specifically, no. He did discuss the differences in meaning of words considered 'dirty' in one country and benign in another, such as fanny and bum and spent a bit of time on Cockney rhyming slang, which is fascinating, and becomes much clearer if you realize that the actual rhyming word is often dropped from the final expression. He also cleared up a question I've had for a long time about the origins of 'raspberry' for that sound you make with your lips. As he puts it, "you may wish to bear in mind that a popular dessert in Britain is called a raspberry tart."

I do recommend the book--it's amusing and well-written.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I had no idea that "raspberry" in that sense was rhyming slang! One of my favorite bits of rhyming slang is "noah" for shark.

[grytpype-thynne.livejournal.com]

Also it occurs that 'pardon my French' is itself a polite Englishman's way of apologising for using coarse language.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Yes, that one gets used here too.