[Urbane Guerrilla]

"One fell swoop?" Oh, absolutely, we use it in the States. Even if it took us until we read Tolkien in junior high school or so to see "fell" used in that sense in or on something other than a swoop.

All it takes is a spot of literacy.

I remember a doodle showing a hairy, goggle-eyed and friendly looking critter declaring himself "one swell foop."

Heavy reading of Patrick O'Brian novels suggests the barge in question that has a barge pole is an Admiral's barge, and the pole a boathook.

Also the literary record -- Donald E. Westlake IIRC -- records a refusal to touch something with an eighteen foot Lithuanian.