3 hours ago, mgaretz said:Later, someone back home told me that the term "banger" was primarily a US term and we called them that here because they had too much breading to be legally called a sausage. Any truth to any of that? "Bangers and mash" surely can't just be an American dish?
I think the cab driver was pulling your leg. The expression 'bangers and mash' is well known in Britain, although seldom used other than jokingly. I've neve heard it being used to refer to a prostitute, nor is that meaning listed in any of my many dictionaries.
The origin of the phrase also seems to be Australian, but it's unclear. The earliest appearance in writing is in an Australian dictionary of slang called Digger Dialects, in 1919.