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"?