Sublime

the proprietor of a mug house or shicker shop, the pub landlord or -lady, is not without his or her own monikers. Among the earliest labels, in the 1500s, were the lick-spigot, ale-draper, and cove-of–the-ken. Today you’re more likely to hear the governor or mine host. In the years in-between, and if you were fond of a tipple, you might have

fullscrew: a full Corporal in the Army. grunt: an infantryman. mod plod: a nickname for an officer in the Ministry of Defence Police. club swinger: the PE trainer. fang farrier: a dentist. pusser’s issue: a label for any equipment issued by the Service, a corruption of the word ‘purser’. Anything done unimaginatively or ‘by the book’ is done in a

Another enduring name for the force as a whole is of course the Old Bill, originally a cartoon character of the First World War who was portrayed as a grumbling Cockney soldier with a walrus moustache. The ‘police’ meaning emerged when the character, this time wearing police uniform, appeared in posters during the Second World War giving advice on