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Sweet Fanny Adams

Posted by Scott Marsden on July 25, 2000

I notice the list has this origin for the phrase "Sweet Fanny Adams":

"Fanny Adams was murdered in 1867 and her body dismembered. Sailors in the British Navy came to use the expression to refer to unpleasant meals. It later came to be used to mean nothing of value."

Am I the only one who views this with a certain amount of incredulity? It looks to me like a "minced" version of "Sweet F-A", or "Sweet [F-word] All, considering they all look alike and mean the same thing. "Fanny Adams" sounds like a more acceptable "FA" to use instead of the obscenity.

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