Sweet F.A No it's not an Endearment to the Football Association, but was the title of the 1970's British Pop Band the Sweet Music Album. Originally it was a saying which has become well used for over 150 years in Britain and the full saying was Sweet Fanny Adams and came to represent the Slang phrase I Don't Know Anything, or Nothing regarding questions asked on certain subjects. I Know Sweet Fanny Adams About It. It was also used as a Term used by Sailors of the Royal Navy.

Sweet Fanny Adams was a Real Person. Fanny was a middle child of George and Harriet Adams, they lived in the village of Alton in Hampshire. Fanny was described as a Happy Child who enjoyed chatting to people and was always smiling. Alton where she and her family lived was famous for it's Beer Brewing, and in the 1860's was surrounded by Hop Fields. With the Community being small people knew everybody else. On the 24th of August 1867 Fanny her best friend Minnie Warner and her 5 year old sister Lizzie were walking towards Flooded Field to go and play, on the road the girls were met by one Frederick Baker a newcomer who had lived in Alton for a few months. He spoke to the girls who all knew him, after awhile he asked Fanny to accompany him to the next village of Shalden. Fanny refused stating her wish to stay with her sister and friend. Baker then offered her a half penny to buy sweets if she would go with him, again Fanny refused. Baker then turned his attention to the other girls and got the same No reply. So Baker using the advantage of his height and strength, simply picked up Fanny and carried her away. Minnie and Lizzie ran back to Minnie's house and told her Mother Martha what had happened, as there had never been any crime in Alton during her life time Martha Warner thought her daughter was simply joking or telling stories. Seeing Martha's disinterest, the girls went outside playing. Thinking that Fanny would be safe with Frederick Baker after all.

Later as Lizzie made her way home, she was stopped by a Mrs Gardener, who asked where her sister was. Lizzie told her what had happened, Mrs Gardener took Lizzie home as quickly as possible where she repeated her story to her Mother. Harriet and Mrs Gardener along with other people searched for Fanny, but found no sign. It wasn't until a few days later that War Veteran Thomas Gates came upon the Severed Head of Fanny on the Top of Two Hop Poles. It took the Police several more days to find the rest of Fanny's dismembered body. In the meaning time Baker had been arrested due to eyewitness reports. He stated he hadn't killed Fanny saying he had left her at the Village gate. However after searching Bakers Desk in the Solicitor's office where Baker worked as a Clerk they found his Diary on the page dated August 24th was the line Killed a girl. Baker was tried at Winchester Court and was found Guilty by the Jury and was Hung on Christmas Eve, 1867 watched by a crowd of over 5,000 people.

But how did the term Sweet Fanny Adams come about? It morphed into the saying as we know it by Sailors comparing their tinned meat ration of cold mutton, to the remains of Fanny Adams. Of course Fanny Adams as turned into F.A. two entirely Different words nowadays.

@Chris has mentioned this after watching a youtube channel in the past. i never knew about it but a lot of my family have always said the phrase, i dont like hearing it now i know the story behind it. it seems disrespectful to imply that a young murdered childs live means nothing. :(

It’s a sad way for a well-known phrase to start, but that’s how a lot of old sayings came about. Many of them have strange or dark stories behind them, even if we don’t think about it now.

Yes, there is an excellent channel on YouTube called "Well, I Never."

It's a horrible story, and this is how I learned about Fanny Adams and the background of the saying.

This Excellent Channel is also where I got the Majority of my information from for this thread. Along with other sources. It is a Gruesome Tale, but I found it interesting , so I thought I'd share it on PON, I Didn't Know it had already been covered by @Chris .

I mentioned it in passing in a YouTube discussion; it was a while ago, and there's no harm in a topic focusing on the story. I only shared the video to give some context to how I learned about it, plus it's just an awesome video.