Where does the saying "not on your nelly" originate from?

Answer 1

from the phrase ‘not on your Nelly Duff', rhyming slang for ‘puff', meaning ‘life'.

Answer 2

I copied this page from a website:

In Reply to: Re: Not on your Nelly posted by Cedric C. Barfoot on April 01, 2003

: : : On BBC News this evening Andrew Marr used a phrase I haven't heard for years and totally unknown to my wife: "Not on your Nelly." The meaning of the phrase is, I believe, "not bloody likely" (but much politer, of course). Any ideas on the origin of the phrase? And is it "Nelly" with a capital N? And who might she have been?

: : It turns out to be rhyming slang.

: : From Eric Partridge, "A Dictionary of Catch Phrases American and British":

: : NOT ON YOUR NELLIE! (or NELLY) 'Not on your life!' An intensive tag, dating since the late 1930s. . . . Short for 'not on your Nellie Duff!'; and 'Nellie Duff' rhymes on 'puff', breath of life, life itself. . . .

: : NOT ON YOUR LIFE! Certainly not! Since the late 1880s, or perhaps a few, or not so few, years earlier. It seems to have become, c. 1900, also US . . .

: But who might Nellie Duff have been? Was there ever such a person? Or a purely made-up name?

A made-up name seems likely. See discussion linked below (http://www.quinion.com/words/articles/nellie.htm).

Answer 3

The saying "Not on Your Nellie/Nelly"! Originates from rhyming slang for "Not on Your Life." Nellie was short for 'not on your Nellie Duff!'; and 'Nellie Duff' rhymes with 'puff', puff meaning breath of life and hence, life itself.
So not on your Nelly = Not on your Nelly Duff = Not on Your Puff = Not on Your Breath = Not on your Life!
And nothing to do with Nelly te Elephant at all... Shocking!

Answer 4

Noel Edmunds invented it as he signature catchphrase

Answer 5

my granny