Because proposing a hypothesis that explains the observed evidence is part of the scientific process.
I’m 99% sure etymology doesn’t work that way.
But here’s the real answer from slanghistories.com.
Pulled that out of my ass from a fake site, but it has a relationship with the way real-world slang works as well as a connection with the known etymology of “fuss.” And it’s an absolutely meaningless finger exercise. All folk etymology is.
So what’s your proposal? We don’t discuss any topic in which we don’t have an objectively factual answer? That’ll cut back on posting in nothing else.
It seems to have been established that nobody knows the origins of the term “the fuzz”. So we can close the thread or we can attempt to answer the question by speculation.
Fuzz has been in widespread use in the UK for many decades; it’s in Monty Python from the 70’s (i.e. the Salvation Fuzz), and almost certainly before that.
But it’s U.S. slang originally, in print at least since 1924.
(Looks at date). So, not much chance we are actually going to get the punchline to this joke …
I picked this up from reading British novels. Baz, Gaz, and Jaz are Barry, Gary, and James.
Move it out of GQ, perhaps.
Look at this thread. A guy in it is proposing to make c larger so that particles can go “faster” than c. The physicists in it are taking him apart piece by piece, but he keeps going.
What you’re doing is the equivalent. The only difference is that we don’t have a squad of professional etymologists that everyone defers to on questions about etymology.
It’s been established that this question doesn’t have an answer. Joke answers are allowed at this point. But if you publish what is obviously a joke as a serious answer, then you suffer the risk that you will be cut to pieces for spreading ignorance. I don’t see why etymology shouldn’t be given the same respect as physics.
Except for being the exact opposite.
That poster is proposing something that defies the existing evidence and contradicts what is known about the subject.
It’s right there in the last line… The old lady interprets “picked up by the fuzz” to mean lifted by the pubic hair.
Trying to use the scientific method on a question of etymology is like trying to use your shiny new hammer to attach a nut to a bolt. It’s the wrong tool for the wrong job.
There’s an Irish term for the police, “shades”. I have no idea where that came out of but I suspect it is a Shelta term.
Another data point: when my late father-in-law wanted to speak to a decision-maker instead of the low-level employees, he would ask for “someone with some fuzz” =someone with age and authority, who would presumably have pubic hair.
The etymology is uncertain, but it may be from the Irish séideog, a policeman. The Irish word is attested at least from 1912, the Hiberno-English slang word from 1932.
What, you may ask, is the etymology of séideog? I have no idea. The -og suffix (“young”) suggests it may be a diminutive, but after that my imagination and knowledge of the language fails me.
Séideog is from séideadh, a blow of air or wind (cf. séideán, a gust). So, a little blow of air, but I don’t know of any reason why this would be used as slang for police.
Wild guess: something to do with surveillance or informers? You know, local members of the constabulary reporting gossip and rumours to the authorities in Dublin Castle, like the snivelling toadies that they are, and thereby getting decent people into trouble.
Pay the first two but think it’s Jas, not Jaz for James.
My Uncle James was called Jim by his in-laws, Jas by his parents and Jamie by everybody else. 
Not necessarily; I used to know a Gaz short for Gavin, and still know a Loz that’s a Louise, both in the UK.
Baz and Gaz, sure. Jas would be Jarrod/Jared. l.
That’s not to say that *nobody *has ever picked up such nicknames against the pattern. There are people called Albert who are nicknamed Gaz and people named Ralph who are called Tez and so forth. The point is that these names are essentially random. They don’t have any link to the original name. There’s no reason to believe that Gavin’s are called Gaz any more often then Engelberts.
Maybe Robert Peel somehow acquired the nickname Roz. It’s exactly as likely as him acquiring the nickname Okie. The point is that with no plausible reason to believe he ever was nicknamed Okie, any folk etymology that suggests that the word OK derives from there is silly.
Robert giving rise to Bobby makes perfect sense, It’s a standard nickname. Robert giving rise to Roz, nope. That needs evidence.
What? I always thought that “chazzer” meant someone who was greedy when it came to food. Someone who would eat and eat and eat all they could. They just stuff their faces until they explode. Remember that Monty Python movie with the exploding man?
I know there is a connotation between pig “and” and “greedy” but I always thought the actual translation for “pig” was something different.
I suppose that I could easily be wrong. After all, I never spoke Yiddish as a child and I just don’t know where this idea of mine could have come from.
Do you mind if I ask, “where did your idea come from”?