h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sorry to be such an anorak, but you made a bit of an error in the sentence

'Many Canadians find the sentence "Can I bum a fag, Guv'ner." intensely amusing.'

The word is 'Guvnor' - the apostrophe has long since disappeared. In fact, the word itself is very rarely used. 'Guv' is now the correct term, and is now used almost exclusively in cop shows by low ranking officers speaking to their superiors, e.g.

Superior Officer: "Have you got the report back on those bloodstains (skin samples, hair follicles - insert forensic evidence as required)yet?"

Low Ranking Officer: "No, Guv."

This usage came to the fore with John Thaw and Dennis Waterman in the excellent 'Sweeney'. The title of this program is also a bit of English slang 'Sweeney Todd' = Flying Squad.

I've changed the spelling. I decided to keep the long version, as we Canadians (North Americans actually) tend to use it when trying to imitate a British accent. It is usually (poorly) pronounced "guv-NAH". This is the same as people simply throwing an "Eh" at the end of every single sentence and pronouncing the the word "about" as "a-BOOT" when imitating the Canadians. Also similar to screaming "a dingo ate my BAY-BEE" when imitating Australians.

That's interesting about the Australian imitation. Over here, we tend to imitate them by saying 'G'day' every other word, and ending each sentence with 'mate'. This means that the most often used Aussie phrase is 'G'day, mate'.

Incidentally, I have yet to find a policeman who ACTUALLY calls his superior 'Guv'. Another little nuance is that 'Guv' is a southern (primarily London) word. Northerners use it in much the same way that Canadians do, just as we Southerners say 'Eh oop' when we try to imitate them.

I think we've Paul Hogan to thank/blame for the silly (and probably dated) expressions used to mock Aussie slang expressions...although I've not heard anyone called "Bruce" go by yet (that one's made popular by the Pythons, who found almost every Aussie they encoutered was called Bruce. Hence, the "Bruces" sketch).

With the delay of licensing of telly-shows across the pond, I've had access to the Prime Suspect series for a number of years. Those shows were made in 1991 or thereabouts, and the use of "Guv" is sprinkled throughout.

Fruitbat