Sir or guv?

Posted by Lotg (OZ) on September 08, 2004

Another line out of "The Burning Girl". The two men greet each other - they don't like each other. Tughan's the boss.

"Thorne..."
"Tughan..."
"I'll settle for 'Sir' or 'Guv'..."
"What about 'twat'?"

...Charming language I know. Presumably tough cop speak. Anyway my question is... isn't there a world of difference between 'sir' and 'guv'? Isn't 'Sir' more official and 'guv' more a term of endearment that would be offered up only by a subordinate who actually liked their boss? Or is it used more generically than that? 'Guv' isn't one of the terms we Aussies have inherited from the poms.