Etymology

how's your father

Today it means: A whatsit; a thing which the speaker is unable or unwilling to specify more precisely. Full definition →

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The story

A popular catchphrase of the 1910s popularised by music-hall entertainer Harry Tate, who used it for comic effect to change the subject away from one about which his character was ignorant (hence sense 1) or a taboo subject (hence sense 2).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.