[colinbartlett]

Wow "publican" is a real word, cool! As an American, I have never heard this and thought you were making it up.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/publican

[CatsoCatsoCatso]

It's a great word but it's not one I've heard often in person, usually people just say landlord.

(I live in Southern England, and this comment is only from my experience.)

[snowy]

Ireland here we use publican.

[phillc73]

Publican is common in Australia.

[_asummers]

Semi-OT, there's an excellent bar/restaurant in Chicago named Publican. If you're ever in Chicago, you should check it out.

[ptaipale]

For me it sounds like a real word, but refers to a tax collector (with similar connotations as "collaborator", though not quite "quisling".)

[ptaipale]

Surprised that people dislike this comment. This is a meaning for "publican" much older than pubs, and the also the meaning of "publican" as described in Wikipedia [0] and as many of us have learned at school about Gospel of Luke (where this role of a despised tax collector or collaborator with the occupying Roman empire was at heart of the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican).

[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Publican [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharisee_and_the_Publican