gaffer

In colloquial British English gaffer means a foreman, and is used as a synonym for "boss". In the UK the term is commonly used to refer to sports coaches (football, rugby, etc).

The term is also sometimes used colloquially to refer to an old man, an elderly rustic, and can be used as a prefix to the name (as in Gaffer Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings). The word is probably a shortening of "godfather", with "ga" from association with "grandfather". The female equivalent was "Gammer", which came to colloquially refer to an old lady or gossip.