Chris wrote >to us english folk a fag *is* definitely a cigarette first
and to further complicate the slang differential, to bum something off someone also has a very different connotation, as confirmed by this quote from 17 Watts > Dougie Boyle, guitarist with Robert Plant's band, > was about to go on stage at Atlantic Records' 40th > anniversary concert at Madison Square Gardens. > It was his first ever experience of New York City. > During a rehearsal he became desperate for a > cigarette and employing his best Essex dialect, > innocently enquired of a local stage-hand: > "Can I bum a fag off you?" > There was a short pause while the American > crew member assessed this novel question. > He then uttered the immortal observation: > "You're new here, aren't you?" [from 17 Watts? The Birth of British Rock Guitar by Mo Foster] PaulC
