No offense taken - I shall ask around here anyway.
Throws yet more confusion on Prince Albert in a can though.
Or do I have it confused with another Prince?
More confused than ever now :)

There was/is a brand of tobacco called Prince Albert that came in a tin.

you may be on to something...

They probably have John Adams Tobbacco in a tin in Britain... :D

I believe the naming of the Prince Albert piercing came from the use of a small pin that was used in men's pants in the *old* days to make them sit flat/neat.

Wow...what a smarty 'pants' you are Ducks! ;)

or I could be bullshitting :p

Nah, I did read that somewhere, I remember useless shit like that

This doubtless belongs over in the American phrases thread, but yes, Prince Albert is a brand of tobacco that can be gotten in tin cans, likewise its competing brand Sir Walter Raleigh, whose association with Virginia tobacco and tobacco products would be understandable.

It was a downright traditional phone prank to call up the town drugstore and ask, "Do you have Sir Walter Raleigh in the can?" "Yes." "Well, let him out!" Click. "The can" being yet another term for the bathroom. Never heard of any fast-thinking drugstore clerk saying something like, "He's in there with Prince Albert and God knows what those two Englishmen are up to!"

When is it proper to refer to one's (business) superior as "Guv'nor?" This was often a form of address used in the book Black Beauty, and it confused me quite a bit, because none of the people so addressed were ever elected to public office ... I also saw it used on the TV show, Life on Mars, where the head of the detective division was called "Guv" a lot.

The other thing, this is old usage ... why would initials followed by a line be used in novels, where obviously things were made up anyway, to refer to the Countess of S---- or the Baronet of Q----- ?

Possibly because there really was a Baroness of Q----, not to be mistaken with the one in the story, or possibly to make you think it was a real person being described....Not entirely sure though

Guv or Guv'ner is still sometimes used, but mostly in a mocking way. I queried something in the recent office move and the furniture mover shrugged at me and said "Dunno love, ask the Guv'ner" I doubt he called his manager that to his face, but it underlined the fact that he wasn't prepared to make any decisions himself.

I didn't watch Life on Mars, but has good reports from friends - did you like it?

And thanks to all who cleared up the Prince Albert thing. I knew "can" was US for toilet, but didn't put the two together....!

Also, Guv is sometimes used in place of 'Boss' or 'sir' usually when there is no real assumption of higher rank. For instance, a delivery man might ask "Where d'ye want this Guv?"

I "get" guv'ner, because I like to call people "captain" or "chief" . . .

'Guv' was also used extensivly in 'The Sweeny', which was contemperous with the setting for 'Life on Mars'. Which, incidently was a great series and well worth watching.... can't wait for the next series (season, to our cross-Atlantic chums....).

I querstioned one of my mates ( an ex-chief inspector for Cheshire Constabulary) and he confirmed that 'gov' is still used by plain-clothes divisions, though frowned upon in uniformed branch.

What is a "flying squad"?

sweeny todd....


the sweeny...


flying squad....

an elite Metropolition (ie London) Police division. All armed, fast cars, non- uniformed. In todays jargon, they would be a 'quick response armed tactical unit' but without the uniforms and fairly automonous - they could pick their own targets.

Ah, I was on-topic and didn't even know it!

Ah...we call that "SWAT" (Special Weapons and Tactics)

Do they use Colonel in Texas too, or is that an antebellum south thing?:confused:

mmmm.... I actually refrained from using the term 'swat', althought there are similarities....

But the flying squad was more than that.They had their own intelligence network, and the automony to select their own objectives. In todays jargon, they were proactive rather than reactive.

Secret police. :unsure:

I'm just having a "spot of tea" now.

My two cents re: three sheets to the wind:

First, despite what at first blush would be considered a "sheet", the sail is just a sail. A sheet is the rope used to fasten the sail to an anchor point, usually the deck. This sheet controls your sail and thence, your sailboat. When you lose control of your sheets, the sails flap extrememly violently to the point of destruction of the sail and anyone who tries to apprehend it.

Three sheets to the wind is extrememly, violently out of control. Unless your boat is becalmed, then you proceed to become three sheets to the wind.

Re: "Pubcrawls" When I was a bike mechanic we did something like a pub crawl with our three speeds. We'd ride from bar to bar having a drink or two at each place. The last person to arrive had to buy the first round. Something like that.

"family allowance" we have "family jewels"
Dog's body? = bee's knees? something great.

Dogsbody is a servant; your batman. Which term may be military, as I never recall seeing it used in any other context.

I thought it was an outstanding show, both as a police drama and for the major plot point (cop from 2006 has near fatal accident, ends up in early 1970s ... which is the dream?). I sincerely hope that BBCAmerica picks up next series.

From American Phrases
I've heard
Sweating like a rapist
and Sweating like a paedophile in a creche

Also
Polite as a whore at a Christening

You'd do better to have a cuppa.

dogsbody = gopher

Hmm. you may need to move to a nicer area?

Also spelt "gofer" if your spellchecker doesn't tyrannize. I rather prefer this spelling as it more clearly carries the meaning:

"You need a gofer."
"Huh?"
"A gofer. A guy to go fer coffee, go fer a paper..."

--Some Donald E. Westlake novel I read over thirty years ago

I see I wrote a little too ambiguously: I figure "batman" for a chiefly military usage. I know he's not a "batsman."

In an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine (UK) Daisy claims she is "highly sprung and anything smelly is bad for her swerves." is there some Britishness in this or is it just "stuff and nonsense"?

I always thought (stepson is a HUGE Thomas the Tank Engine fan, I know the episode you speak of) that it was a pair of stupid train puns, for the phrase "high-strung and anything smelly is bad for her nerves". Not that that makes a whole lot of sense either, but at least those are two known phrases.

That makes a lot of sense, I think you are right. I have a tendency to make things more complicated than they need to be.

Did you hear the UK version with Ringo Starr narrating? It seems kind of funny.

I preferred the Ringo Starr versions, not that I've seen a lot of episodes of Thomas. My friend's kid was into it (his father is a real train engineer) and I had to keep up to be able to talk to him when he was three.

Quite right - although in honesty 1 was on a dvd, 1 was in London and the other was shock value :)

Whaaaaaat? I never even realised there was another version?! Okay I haven't seen Thomas in years, but the Ringo Starr narration was an essential part of it for me. Although this may have been because my Dad used to read the books to my brother in the same accent (well, doing a very very bad Ringo Starr impression). We occasionally try to get him to do it at family get-togethers but he denies all knowledge. Parents.

The comedian George Carlin does most (all? all the ones I've seen anyway) of the ones in the US.

How about "hang it all"? Is it still used?

That is awesome, to me. 90% of our Thomas watching is "split screen" i.e. Youtube thomas on one side and a very skinny cellar on the other. So I get a mix of George Carlin and Ringo. I think it is positively subversive that GC is narrating. If Zappa were alive, he'd be another choice.

"a little green tank engine, makes a muffin ???"

here's two I just remembered:

Did you have a scrap with the lawnmower?

She looks like she's been dragged through a hedge backwards.

The simple "Ta" as "thank you" -- is it still in use?

We say Ta over here for thankyou. In fact, that's the word most mothers get their kids to say for thankyou when they're first learning to speak.

What about 'daft', as in 'Are you daft (meaning crazy)?

Or 'Ta Ta!', meaning 'good bye'?

Ta, daft and ta-ta are all still in use in Brit.

And "hang it all"?

Not much used in my experience. 'Bugger it' is more likely. And 'Bugger that for a game of soldiers'...oh yeah and 'sod it'

And, indeed, "sod that for a game of soldiers" ...

well indeed.

The first time I visited the US (Christmas in Oregon, 1967) it took me a few days to realise why at certain times of the day people would ask me the time, then fall about laughing at my reply.

At twenty five minutes past the hour, I say -

"Five and twenty past ten" for example, or "Five and twenty to two".

It never failed to reduce them to giggles until I sussed it and changed the way I said it. Does it still amuse?

Frankly, it amuses most Brits too (except those from Somerset and Nottingham) ;)

Saying "quarter to three" rather than 2:45 seems to be not the done thing round here, but they know what I mean.

Bollock-all

=nothing

"I worked all night but I had bollock-all to show for it"

'Sweet Fanny Adams'. Is this a Brit phrase, or do Americans use it to? As in Sweet F.A.

Totally Brit. That old band Sweet had a song called that (Sweet F.A.) and I never understood why.

I do hereby humbly suggest that we move on to pronunciation...

to whit: Jaguar

two syllables or three?

Sweet F.(uck) A.(all). F.(anny) A.(dams).

Three Jag-ewe-er/ar

I never did understand the mangling of jaguar in Winnie-the-Pooh until St. Louis got a Jaguar dealership that had radio commercials.

Could you explain that last comment please Dar?

Here in the US we pronounce jaguar with two syllables jag-war. Somewhere in one of the WtP stories, they mention a jaguar as a jagular. Heffalumps and woozles made sense as mispronunciations, but jagular didn't - until I heard the British pronunciation.

OMG! You're messing with a classic car. It's pronounced Jag-U-ar! Get it right FFS!!!

okay.......and Iraq?....Iran?.....is there an eye in either of those?:P