I wonder if 'bye-election' started as a joke. Next it will be called a 'bye-bye election.'

I've been thinking about Fat Andy and his archaic dialect. (Of course I realized that few people talk like that anymore.)

Dalziel is using the old speech to send a message, and that message is, "I'm not one of your kind." Whether the listener is a subordinate, an amoral executive, a drunken lout, or one of The Better Sort, Dalziel is saying "We don't have a bond. We will not wink at anything. There's is nothing that we won't bring up." He represents the Old Order.

When he's not being the boss, he drops it. For example, when he hears that a woman's little daughter died, he says, 'I'm sorry, luv. Didn't know. Must have been terrible.' The situation calls for straightforward, everyday English, and he uses it.

Long ago I studied 'Antigone,' where the old order was implacable and unchangeable. Dalziel represents that.

Pascoe is modern, rational, and reasonable. Where Dalziel pounds the truth out of people, Pascoe sidewinds past their defenses. Don't trust either of them. Better yet, keep to the straight and narrow way.   

Q - I look forward to your post on Australian terms.

A tip - when a page has a good term, dog-ear the bottom of it. (Other people never dog-ear the bottom.) Later you can find all the dog-ears and type them up.

Leadfingers, your ""he's stupid or crazy, one" reminds me of Dalziel's "he's stupid or crazy, but." Different meaning, but same prosody.