its the tittle of a song, and i have heard that in britain anyone would no what it is.
2007-01-23 04:19:57 · 20 answers · asked by fonovitrea 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Sweet Fanny Adams
F.A. means 'F*ck all' - Nothing at all - zero - nada
F.A is also the initials of Fanny Adams,( April 1859-24 August 1867) who was a young girl brutally murdered by a solicitor's clerk named Frederick Baker in the town of Alton, Hampshire, England.
The navy picked up the connection and used Sweet fanny Adams as a bowderalized or cleaned up version of 'F*ck all'
2007-01-23 04:23:29 · answer #1 · answered by SeabourneFerriesLtd 7 · 8⤊ 0⤋
Sweet Fanny Adams = sweet nothing
Poor Fanny's headstone, erected by Public subscription in 1874, and renovated a few years ago, still stands in the town cemetery on the Old Odiham Road. It might have been our only reminder of the tragic affair had it not been for the macabre humour of British Sailors.
Served with tins of mutton as the latest shipboard convenience food in 1869, they gloomily declared that their butchered contents must surely be 'Sweet Fanny Adams'. Gradually accepted throughout the armed services as a euphemism for 'sweet nothing' it passed into common usage.
As an aside, the large tins in which the meat was packed for the royal navy, were often used as mess tins and it appears that even today mess tins are colloquially known as 'fannys'.
2007-01-23 05:45:50 · answer #2 · answered by Martha P 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sweet Fa
2016-09-28 11:28:11 · answer #3 · answered by theberge 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sweet Fanny Adams originally, and now usually sweet f*ck all. It means 'nothing' as in 'What have you been doing since i've been out?' ....'Oh, sweet FA!'
My Dictionary of Slang says that in 1889 Fanny Adams meant tinned mutton. 8 year old Fanny Adams was murdered in Hampshire on 24 Aug 1867...... maybe the association with mutton is that her remains were thought to have made their way into tins and therefore into pies. Horrible!
2007-01-23 04:31:37 · answer #4 · answered by Caroline 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I think other people have given you the correct answer! Here in Ireland, a euphemism for it is 'Sweet Fanny Adams'.
2007-01-23 19:56:43 · answer #5 · answered by Orla C 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Old terms means "sweet fanny adams" an old saying meaning nothing.
in new terms means "sweet f*** all. meaning the same
2007-01-23 04:24:29 · answer #6 · answered by stevenhawkins2208 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It actually refers to Sweet Fanny Adams and has a long story set in Victorian times that goes with it but it has simply come to mean nothing much since the heroine was hit by a train and broken into tiny pieces.
Not a nice tale, but not as nasty as the expression has degenerated into.
2007-01-23 04:25:34 · answer #7 · answered by Vivienne T 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Yes, sweet F*ck All!
A derogatory term as used mostly in the NW..Liverpool area, but also elsewhere!
i.e.: What did you get for Xmas mate?
ah, I got sweet FA...as usual!
originally though, sweet fanny adams, I believe .lol!
Get the jist?
2007-01-23 04:27:02 · answer #8 · answered by Gary H 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
sweet fanny adams, sweet f*%k all, it means nothing like "what did u do today, oh sweet f*%k all".
2007-01-23 04:24:11 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
I think it means 'sweet f@@k all'
2007-01-23 04:27:07 · answer #10 · answered by Hannah L 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋