It seems to be used only in Australia. I am not Australian. Maybe that is why I do not like it.
I work in a call-centre. When a person first said this to me I replied with ‘Pardon, you beg my ?’ I have replied that way ever since.
Can you use it in context?
Is it a shortened version of “I beg your pardon?”
Joe
Wow. That’s more annoying than “Please?”. Both mean “I beg your pardon” or “Could you repeat that”. At least “Please?” does, mostly in the Northern Kentucky/Southern Ohio area IIRC.
What?
Sorry?
Why use 4 words when you can get the same message across with 2? It’s the Australian way 
Well except if you’re one of the increasingly small number of people who use rhyming slang in which case, give us a call on the dog and bone and we can have a butchers at your problem. 
Over 50 years in Australia and I’ve never heard this, as you state it. Only:
I Beg Your Pardon ?
or simply
Pardon?
I don’t think it’s something I’ve ever used, but it’s commonly heard - though I think from older people perhaps.
I also think that sarcastically belittling a customer’s grammar by replying,“Pardon, you beg my ?” is a pretty snotty thing to do. Do you also pull people up on things like “I seen…” or “I didn’t do nothink”, or are the uneducated or non-native English speakers not allowed to speak to you?
Based on my experiences in with Aussies, it’ll soon be shortened to “Beggo?”
I certainly heard it in the suburbs of Melbourne in the 70s. I haven’t heard it since, and I’m not sorry.
We like to shorten things. Even acronyms, as in “the grannie is at the G in a couple of days’ time”.
No doubt it’s predominantly Australian (and I’d agree with **TLD ** that it’s mostly a usage by older Australians), but I’ve just come back from four days in New Zealand and I heard it used in Christchurch while I was there.
Yes I do, and thanks for asking. I think sometimes uneducated people may speak to me, but somehow I never hear anything.
So…why is it “beg yours” instead of “beg your?” They wouldn’t normally say “Beg yours pardon” would they? This is like that maths thing, isn’t it.
Squee of delight It’s so cute that some people still expect our language to make any sense at all!
On a serious note though, I don’t honestly know. I wouldn’t say it, but on some level I’m aware that if I *did *decide to say it, “Beg yours?” would somehow be more correct than “Beg your?”.
I don’t know why.
However, since I actually only ever say “Pardon?” or “I’m sorry?” it probably won’t come up. “Beg yours?” seems a wee bit patronising on some level I can’t quite identify.
You’d think I’d be better at this, seeing as I was born here and all. :smack:
Think of it this way - whose pardon are they begging? Yours!
Can I ask how such a highly educated person comes to be working in a call centre, where one might risk exposure to the unwashed masses on such a regular basis???
And blinkingblinking, if you can’t handle the way some Australians speak English, then you have two (not necessarily exclusive) choices - leave Australia and go work in your home country (where you can freely piss your own countrymen off) and/or quit working in a call centre. Last time I checked, call centres were part of the customer service industry, which does not generally encourage its employees to belittle customers!
I don’t often hear it, but I’ve never taken that bit of slang to be Aussie-English before now. There are a couple of non-Aussie works on the Project Gutenberg site which well pre-date World War II (and in one case looks to be late 19th century) which use the phrase “I beg yours” in reponse to “I beg your pardon.” Sounds just like a shortening to me. Nothing to get any knickers in a twist about.
I find that by quickly humping someone’s leg, it’s a fast and easy way of saying “pardon?”
I’m friendly like that, though.
Your OP made a few pieces fall into place
I’m Australian, and working in a very modern scenario… why exactly does it bother you? It’s colloquial, to be sure, but it’s part of your every day life…? I love it. I celebrate it. Even if I don’t say it.
At the end of the day, it’s like using the word “Sorry?” when you don’t hear something right the first time.
Why do people think one is in a rage because one says one does not like something? I thought I said I did not like the expression. I did not say this expression upsets me so much that I am leaving the country forever.