Posted by Magnus Smith on April 28, 2012 at 23:40:18 user Magnus.
In Reply to: Duffers posted by Andy Clayton on April 27, 2012 at 03:45:56:
> Would AR have been aware of the Australian source for the word
Yes! One of his favourite books at school was 'Robbery Under Arms' which was an Australian story of horse rustling and coach hold-ups (source: Autobiography).
Since ebooks are so easily searchable, I skipped through 20 references to 'duffer' as a word for cattle/horse thief, but did find one mention of the word which didn't fit the others:
"[Police searching for the secret hideaway] had to come back and own that they were beat, which put Goring in a rage and made the inspector, Sir Ferdinand Morringer, blow them all up for a lot of duffers and old women."