Top

The Straight Dope: Why Are The Police Called Cops, Pigs, Or The Fuzz?

February 6, 2012 by · Comments Off on The Straight Dope: Why Are The Police Called Cops, Pigs, Or The Fuzz? 

The Straight Dope: Why Are The Police Called Cops, Pigs, Or The Fuzz?, 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.

Vermont Police Pig Prank

February 6, 2012 by · Comments Off on Vermont Police Pig Prank 

Vermont Police Pig Prank, A prank by a US prison inmate has been uncovered more than three years after the joker changed a police car decal design to include a hidden image of a pig.

A Vermont State Police officer discovered the cheeky porker on a patrol car late last month.

It is believed the decal has been applied to approximately 30 Vermont State Police cruisers since 2008, when a prisoner working in the Vermont Correctional Industries Print Shop changed a spot on a cow on the police logo into a pig.

Police say the prankster, who was responsible for designing and printing the decals, must have modified the computer program that contained the traditional state emblem.

Police have launched an investigation into the prank, although they admit the inmate responsible may no longer be in custody.

If he is identified (potentially by another inmate squealing on him), the offender is likely to be disciplined internally rather than face any criminal charges.

Vermont State Police says it will cost around US$780 ($725) to replace the modified decals.

Vermont public safety commissioner Keith Flynn told the Burlington Free Press he could see the funny side, and admitted police did not find the term ‘pig’ as offensive as they did in the past.

“If the people had used some of that creativeness, he or she would not have ended up inside,” Flynn said.

Vermont State Police executive officer William Sheets said the quality control at the Corrections Department would be improved in the future.

Bottom