OK, its taken me 15 years to finally get around to asking this, but where the heck does the term “Fair dinkum” originate? I was traveling around Europe after college and fell in with an Australian bloke for a time in Ireland (had the unenviable job of translating between Australian and Irish, but that’s another thread…) and after contemplating which way to start hiking to get a ride out of town, he off-handedly ended his point with “Fair dinkum”.
Him: “… an we’ll tayk thees rahwd owt of tahn an jiffy-quick we’ll be haedin’ twords Cork. Fair dinkum!”
Me: “Fair what?”
Him: “Dinkum.”
Me: “Oh…, and what exactly does that mean?”
Him: “You knauw…, true blue!”
Me: “True blu…”
Him: “You knauw…, nauw worries!”
Me: “Right…”
Him: “Cripes…, you knauw…, Fair dinkum!!”
What I am just starting to wonder now is, not so much what it means (I think that became all too apparent), but rather where it comes from? Was there this historical Australian figure named Dinkum in the past who was known for his all-around fair play or something?
And while we are at it, where the heck does “Bob’s your Uncle” come from?
Fair Dinkum probably comes from some English regional sland according to Brewers dictionary of Phrase and Fable. Much American dialect can be similarly traced back to regional usage in England that is now lost, but lives on in American English.
Bob’s your Uncle (meaning, almost, everything’s dinkum) comes from British politician Balfour’s promotion by his uncle Lord (Robert) Salisbury . If Bob’s your uncle, you’ll be OK. It has now lost the hint of nepotism and just means everything will be easy.
According to the wonderful book “How did it begin - Customs, Superstitions and their romantic origins” by the Rabbi R Brasch (Longmans Greene, 1965), ‘fair dinkum’ can be traced to “English colloquial speech where, in provincial dialect, it meant fair play”.
The Rabbi, (who obviously has been fighting ignorance since 1965!) adds that there is a less factual but more intriguing version that links it to the Ballarat goldfields and ‘fair drinking’. Foreigners in the goldfields were refraining from drinking before the evenings gambling, and the locals were loosing, Aussies being apparently unable to remain sober of an evening (you know, this does have a ring of truth to it!!). The locals were faced with heavy losses, which caused trouble, so the foreigners agreed to ‘fair drinking’ before during and after the gambling, ie to be ‘fair dinkum’.
