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San Fairy Ann

jennyann

jennyann

Gone but not forgotten. R.I.P.
The saying San Fairy Ann came into my mind this am after trying to work out a small problem. I definitely surprised myself coming out with this phrase.
Do you remember people saying it when you were growing up? I was amazed when I researched it on the internet how much there is about the phrase and it's beginnings mainly in WW1.
 
I think you will find it refers to Sweet F All, my brothers used it alot when they were home on leave from the Army.
 
Jennyann, the saying is indeed from the Great War .......the Brummies knew it as "Sweet Fanny Adams"
 
Jennyann, my Dad used this saying lots, especially if he and my Mom were having an argument! I think he used to say it just to wind her up :p During the 2nd WW he picked up several phrases which I'm sure he used to adapt to fit his own ends. Ever heard of 'Chotamati'? My Dad reckoned it was Hindustani for 'wait a minute'! Another one he used was 'Do you want a drink of pawnee' - pawnee supposedly meaning 'water'!! :D My Mom used to moan at him and said he should speak to us kids properly, but I'd heard them all so many times before that I knew exactly what he meant!
 
Like that story Gillian and I am sure those unusual language sayings mostly picked up by soldiers during their stint in the forces and then relayed to the family caused consternation, with the men being told to speak properly to the children of the family. My Dad spent almost four years in Canada when he was a young man and I remember him doing the same thing by using
Canadian and American words and descriptions mostly to annoy my Mother.
We kids just used to laugh. This was long before such sayings were common in Britain and might only have been heard in the cinema.
 
In other terms Beryl........ Sweet Nothings .........in polite terms
were Fanny Adams comes into it I might have a clue
It was a term used in the Days of the Raj by the old soldiers.....
 
There Was AN Old Saying Spoken By Old Brummies ,
ESPECIALY By The Old Codgers Whom Smoked
When They Wanted A Smoke And Hadn,t Got Any Themselves
They Would Say Have You Got A Nub , OR If They Used To Roll There Own
Have You Got Any Dog Ends ,
 
Astonian...it was from a "dog end" that I tasted my first cigarette. My father often had what he called "dog end" cig laying about or in his pockets. I found one and thought that smoking must be so great since my father smoked a lot of cigs per day. It was awful and I didn't take up smoking although my two brothers did. I can remember men in the Bull Ring, in particular, looking for "nub ends" or "dog ends". People often used to throw
away a lot of cig ends and sometimes almost a whole packet so I expect
people looking for a smoke could buy papers and pick up "dog ends" and make themselves a cigarette.
 
Nothing like a shared cigarette, a dog end or a nub at one time, but when the tobacco got stuck at the back of your throat that was another story.
 
Finally found what I have been searching for in an old 1918 Newspaper
San Farian (Tommy's "Translation" of ca ne faitrein.....It Doesn't Matter )
Put and Take ...a gambling craze played with a tee-to-tum (see photo)
It was played for any stake and each player in turn span it and followed the direction which fell uppermost
Take out or put in .....San Farian entitled the player to another spin
 
My Mother used say San Fairy Ann

she also used the expression San Fairy Tipcat.....tipcat as I am sure you all know is a game using a shaped piece of wood anda long stick.
But what that had to do with WWl who knows oh well san fairy ann.
 
Sweet Fanny Adams according to Brewer's Phrase and Fable...

Meaning "nothing at all," though (especially by its initials alone) with a somewhat ambiguous connotation, is a phrase of tragic origin.

In 1810 a girl Fanny Adams was murdered at Alton, Hants, and her body cut up and thrown into the River Wey. With gruesome humour the Navy took up her name as a synonym for tinned mutton, and Sweet Fanny Adams became a phrase for anything worthless or, in fact nothing at all.
 
Pedrocut said:
Sweet Fanny Adams according to Brewer's Phrase and Fable...

Meaning "nothing at all," though (especially by its initials alone) with a somewhat ambiguous connotation, is a phrase of tragic origin.

In 1810 a girl Fanny Adams was murdered at Alton, Hants, and her body cut up and thrown into the River Wey. With gruesome humour the Navy took up her name as a synonym for tinned mutton, and Sweet Fanny Adams became a phrase for anything worthless or, in fact nothing at all.
Click to expand...
It is French - CA NE FAIT RIEN,
 
Lumpammer said:
It is French - CA NE FAIT RIEN,
Click to expand...

That‘s right for the phase in the thread title. In post 2 it is referred to as Sweet F All, but that I think is more appropriate to Sweet Fanny Adams. There is a difference in meaning between the two phrases. One being something like “it doesn’t matter“ and the other “nothing at all” ??
 
i
Pedrocut said:
That‘s right for the phase in the thread title. In post 2 it is referred to as Sweet F All, but that I think is more appropriate to Sweet Fanny Adams. There is a difference in meaning between the two phrases. One being something like “it doesn’t matter“ and the other “nothing at all” ??
Click to expand...
I think today it is said as FA.
 
jennyann said

it was from a "dog end" that I tasted my first cigarette. My father often had what he called "dog end" cig laying about or in his pockets. I found one and thought that smoking must be so great since my father smoked a lot of cigs per day. It was awful and I didn't take up smoking although my two brothers did. I can remember men in the Bull Ring, in particular, looking for "nub ends" or "dog ends". People often used to throw
away a lot of cig ends and sometimes almost a whole packet so I expect
people looking for a smoke could buy papers and pick up "dog ends" and make themselves a cigarette.



dog end.not heard that for a while
 
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