The third son, like his father, was a Knacker. I knew the background. He had sent a strong young Garda from Mayo out to arrest the Guttersnipe one Saturday evening after the Guttersnipe became quite drunk and disorderly in Mac's Pub. The young Garda was nearly six feet tall and armed with a long and strong baton. However the Guttersnipe, street smart from six generations of guttersnipery, expertly kicked the policeman's strong boots about the heels with a quick knacky kick.
Sergeants hate it when their men are felled to the ground.
It is not the image of the Law they like to see going abroad. It describes the kind of man who is dark and brooding and potentially very dangerous in his presence. A loner, often, with a wicked side to him. It means a class of a clownish fool. And the others, said the Sergeant, who had a wide range of dialect which was not at all useable in official reports, or in Court, were Gurriers of almost as much force and experience as the eldest son.