Thread: Copper or policeman?

maybe this can help?

Why are the police called "the fuzz"?

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Anonymous

A STAFF REPORT FROM THE STRAIGHT DOPE SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD
Why are the police called cops, pigs, or the fuzz?

May 31, 2005
Dear Straight Dope:

Could you tell me more about the words fuzz, pigs, and cops and how they pertain to police?

— Mike Paproski

Etymology is rarely an exact science. Words or phrases spring up, become popular, and eventually may find their way into print. The process takes time, and it's usually difficult or impossible to track backwards to discover where a particular word or phrase arose.

Let's start with cop. Cop the noun is almost certainly a shortening of copper, which in turn derives from cop the verb. The London police were called bobbies, after Sir Robert Peel who advocated the creation of the Metropolitan Police Force in 1828. Copper as slang for policeman is first found in print in 1846, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. The most likely explanation is that it comes from the verb "to cop" meaning to seize, capture, or snatch, dating from just over a century earlier (1704).

The derivation of the verb is unclear. Most authorities trace it to the French caper and before that to the Latin capere, to seize, take. Other English words derived from capere include capture. Thus, a copper is one who seizes. An alternative theory is that to cop comes from the Dutch kapen, meaning to take or to steal.

The word "cop" has other meanings as well, all connected to "catch" or "snatch":

To "cop out" meaning to withdraw or escape, or to evade responsibility
To "cop it" meaning to be punished or get caught
To "cop a plea" is to try to catch a lesser punishment by admitting to a lesser crime
"A fair cop" means to be caught in the act.
As with many words, there are several stories floating around positing various origins, almost certainly false. The notion that cop is an acronym for "Constable On Patrol" is nonsense. Similarly, the word did not arise because police uniforms in New York (or London or wherever) had copper buttons, copper badges, or anything of the sort.

The term cop has had derogatory implications. J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime head of the FBI, disliked being called "top cop."

The origin of "fuzz" is uncertain. The expression arose in America in the late 1920s and early 1930s, probably in the criminal underworld. It never quite replaced cop.

Evan Morris, The Word Detective, says:

Where in the world are you hearing people refer to the police as "fuzz"? . . . I have never heard a real person use it, unless you want to count Jack Webb on the old "Dragnet." When I was growing up in the 1960s, we called police officers many things, but mostly we just called them "cops" and we never, ever, called them "the fuzz." As a matter of fact, anybody calling the cops "the fuzz" would have been instantly suspected of being a cop. It would have been a faux pas right up there with ironing your blue jeans.

There are several theories about the origin of "fuzz":

American Tramp and Underworld Slang, published in 1931, suggests that "fuzz" was derived from "fuss," meaning that the cops were "fussy" over trifles.
A mispronunciation or mishearing of the warning "Feds!" (Federal agents). This seems unlikely.
Etymologist Eric Partridge wonders if "fuzz" might have come from the beards of early police officers. This also seems improbable.
The term is not related to Fuzzy Wuzzy who wuz a bear. (You didn't ask, but the term "bear" for police refers to the Smokey the Bear hat commonly worn by state troopers.)

Evan Morris suggests the word "arose as a term of contempt for police based on the use of 'fuzz' or 'fuzzy' in other items of derogatory criminal slang of the period. To be 'fuzzy' was to be unmanly, incompetent and soft. How better to insult the police, after all, than to mock them as ineffectual?" That explanation seems as good as any, and better than most.

If you thought the term pig arose in the 1960s, you're in for a surprise. The OED cites an 1811 reference to a "pig" as a Bow Street Runner--the early police force, named after the location of their headquarters, before Sir Robert Peel and the Metropolitan Police Force (see above.) Before that, the term "pig" had been used as early as the mid-1500s to refer to a person who is heartily disliked.

The usage was probably confined to the criminal classes until the 1960s, when it was taken up by protestors. False explanations for the term involve the gas masks worn by the riot police in that era, or the pigs in charge of George Orwell's Animal Farm.

While police officers usually don't mind being called "cops," they aren't usually fond of the term "pig." A policeman's lot is not an 'appy one.

By the way, the French call their police gendarmes, which came from gens d'arme (people with weaponry) which ranked just below knight in medieval armies--the English equivalent would be "esquire," perhaps. No, somehow I don't think calling the police "squires" will catch on here.

— Dex


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what I thought was right about PIGS obviously wasnt!!

what about "The Jacks" ??? , Ive heard cops referred to as Jacks usually by people with no respect for them. Not for many years tho.

Originally Posted by mudmouse

Pretty serious allegation mate. Bit off topic, but rather than leave it here, lodge a complaint - if it's genuine. If not, it's a war-story that fixes nothing, allowing that sort of behaviour to continue.

Matt.

Yeah it was all delt with in court a couple heads rolled and my buddy got a pay out for it,
Oh so it's still on topic

Popo
Cops
Boys in blue
Or sir
Are my normal terms for them or sir if Im speaking to them

I always try and use the correct rank but all the coppers I know call themselves coppers. Commissioned Officers? Do police have "warrant cards"? Are they warrant officers or above a certain rank do they get a commission.

Originally Posted by shining

I always try and use the correct rank but all the coppers I know call themselves coppers. Commissioned Officers? Do police have "warrant cards"? Are they warrant officers or above a certain rank do they get a commission.

we generally have an ID card and badge. In SA commonly refferred to as the "freddy", in NT (with their roo emblazoned badge) its called a "skippy" not sure about other places...

In SA one man stations, OC other stations and designated detectives and all officers of police (as opposed to Police officers) have a GENERAL SEARCH WARRANT a very powerful and very heavily regulated warrant.

The ID card and badge is often called a warrant card, I assume as its your authority to act? but not as far as I know is it called that by Police (officially anyway)

In NSW a Warrant of Appointment is issued for ranks of Sergeant and above. A warrant card is issued to all on passing out from the NSW Police Force Academy, which physically, is photographic ID and a badge, but legally an authority of the office of Constable along with the Oath of Office.

The Warrant of Appointment used to be for receipt of a Commission (Inspector and above), but Sergeant and Senior Sergeant were added after 2004 I think.

Matt.

I thought I might have have had to use the correct term yesterday when I overtook a Highway Patrol car on my bike at Lithgow. I wasn't speeding as I had seen him from well over a km away and although he didn't follow and pull me over, I expect a ticket in the mail.

Your honour, I plead extenuating circumstances.

The HWP had pulled a woman over and was stopped in the LH lane which was a short dual lane section at a corner (see pic). He had his reds and blues going so I moved over to the right to go around him. Unfortunately, he and the woman moved off just as I approached and at the last second I saw his RH blinker going - his were hard to see owing to the late afternoon sunlight. I might have been able to stop but decided it was safer to skirt around them. By this time the woman was over the dotted line and it could probably claimed I didn't give way.

They both turned right into a side street. I assume the HWP must have told her to move off the highway as it wasn't a good place to stop.

Originally Posted by Ferret

Yeah, you would hope their better coppers than rock stars. I don't think they ever charge for their services. The Filth played at a fund raiser organised partly by my daughter. From memory O'Callaghan did some punk rock covers of about the same standard.

Kinda funny to see the police commissioner singing about anarchy and jumping up and down like 'Plastic Bertrand'.

Doesn't go down well in some quarters but the kids love it. Just shows there is another side to the guy.

Commissioner Karl O'Callaghan APM was appointed as the top police officer in Western Australia Police in 2004. He is responsible for more than 5,800 police officers, over 1,800 police staff and an operating budget of more than $1.2 billion a year.

In 2011 he established Bright Blue – Police Commissioner’s Fund for Sick Kids. He is married with four children, has a passion for rock-and-roll music, plays guitar and is lead singer in his own band ‘The Filth’.

Commissioner O’Callaghan’s qualifications include a PhD, Bachelor of Education (1st Class Honours) and Bachelor of Arts (Education) and in 1997, he was awarded a Churchill Fellowship.

See here:

Our Board | Bright Blue | Police Commissioner's Fund For Sick Kids

Bob