Ooh-er, I'm not sure I know what a sheriff/ procurator fiscal does. All I know is that if there's a suspicious death, or if you don't pay your speeding fine, or other random things, it gets reported to the procurator fiscal. Possibly they then decide whether to charge you, I'm not sure.

Yes, according to Google, that's what they do - they make a recommendation to the Crown Counsel about whether to charge, based on a police report and stuff. Also:

"The job of the Procurator Fiscal is to make preliminary investigations into criminal cases in their districts, take written statements from witnesses and conduct the prosecution in the Sheriff and District Courts. "

Apparently it's similar to the Crown Prosecution Service in E&W.

(Oh, and I don't get offended at province, but probably only because I don't know the technical definition...)



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Do something pretty while you can...

> In (at least some) parts of the north "Brass" is a slang term for money, but in London it
> seems to be one of the slang terms meaning 'prostitute'.

I also use the term to refer to high-up management ('top brass'), which I assume is an extrapolation from the money definition.

Isn't there a movie "Brassed Off"?



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Those who forget the pasta are doomed to reheat it.

I think that "top brass" actually comes from the armed forces, because senior officers were sometimes referred to colloquially as "brass hats" (amongst other things...) due to the amount of gold braid on their uniform headwear.

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Warning! Product may contain Newts!

There is a movie called Brassed Off (and some of it was filmed in my village) from the phrase of the same name, meaning severely dischuffed. I hope that clears that up ...



- - -
I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

Not forgetting the TV series "Brass"

When Brassed Off was released in Italy, the translators couldn't work out how to render the pun in the title, so they chickened out and gave it a different title altogether. The Italian version of the film is called Grazie, Signora Thatcher ("Thank you, Mrs Thatcher"). OK, you can tell it's meant to be ironic, but somehow it just doesn't have the same ring.



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

Oooo yes, "Brass" ... that was brilliant ... Keir Hardie's cap ...

"Profits down again, Austin. I think I'll have to close down the crutch factory. There's only the standing order from Oldham Athletic keeping it going."



- - -
I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

I always thought brass hats was rhyming slang . . . ?



Jesus saves; Buddha does incremental backup.

As far as I know, Brass Flute is Prostitute and Brass Tacks is Facts, but Brass Hats isn't rhyming slang. I thought that it came from military slang for officers with scrambled egg on their hats too.

Isn't "brassy" a description for any tawdry, common woman lacking in grace and wearing an excess of @#$%& showy ornamentation?

I'm sure I've heard a certain former blonde barmaid from the TV soap Coronation Street described thus (avoiding naming her here for fear of being sued since I could be well off the mark! Perhaps it really a term is only applied to prostitutes! )

Brassy from brazen perhaps.
None of which explains why brass monkeys of course.

The origin of the "brass monkeys" phrase has definitely been explained here before, and I'm pretty sure it was by PSD. Curiously enough, it was entirely clean!



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

And if he was right then it referred to shipboard racks made from brass, used for storing cannon-balls, which (unlike the wooden racks that they replaced) contracted noticeably _ with the obvious results _ in very cold weather.

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Warning! Product may contain Newts!

Well recalled! I did remember it was nautical, but couldn't remember the exact details.



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah