# Is the term 'cop' considered "insulting" or negative to police officers?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [August 20, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438 "2011-08-20T16:48:50Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Win\_Place\_Show](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Win_Place_Show)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/1 "2011-08-20T16:48:50Z")
I don’t know why in my head the term “cop” has a negative-connotation to it - maybe it is just me. Is it viewed as a sort of “slang” or an even borderline pejorative term?
Stupid example for illustration, but if you’re at a cocktail party and you introduce yourself as “Hi, I’m _Win Place Show_, I’m an electrical engineer; and this is my wife Suzie, she’s a cop”. Does this come across differently than “she’s an officer of the law”?
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### Author:  [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/2 "2011-08-20T16:56:42Z")
I’ve never heard of it being considered offensive, and I have uncle who is a cop. Cops say “cop.”
“Pig” on the other hand pisses them all sorts of off. I don’t recommend it.
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### Author:  [@Win\_Place\_Show](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Win_Place_Show)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/3 "2011-08-20T16:57:28Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> “Pig” on the other hand pisses them all sorts of off. I don’t recommend it.
😃
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/4 "2011-08-20T17:44:32Z")
This is probably better suited for IMHO than GQ.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
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### Author:  [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/5 "2011-08-20T17:47:04Z")
> [@Win\_Place\_Show](#):
>
> Stupid example for illustration, but if you’re at a cocktail party and you introduce yourself as “Hi, I’m _Win Place Show_, I’m an electrical engineer; and this is my wife Suzie, she’s a cop”.
I’d consider that very defamatory. You should really stay away from terms like “electrical engineer”. “Cop” is fine, though.
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### Author:  [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/6 "2011-08-20T17:47:30Z")
Way back when, it used to be offensive. I can’t say how offensive, tho.
I was watching some movie from the 40s/50s/somethings, and there was a detective speaking to some woman.
Detective: '…blah, blah, blah…you broads…blah…blah…blah…"
Woman: ‘…a woman hates being called a broad almost as much as policemen hate being called cops…’
During my youth in the 60s, we were taught that it was insulting.
hh
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/7 "2011-08-20T17:48:58Z")
“Cop” is informal but in my experience it is not pejorative. It’s the most common term for police officer in casual conversation.
My cousin’s husband is a policeman, and for a while she was working as a bailiff. Whenever they came over to the house, we would shout, “Better watch out! The cops are here!”
As a joke, they would alway bring donuts.😃
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### Author:  [@Win\_Place\_Show](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Win_Place_Show)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/8 "2011-08-20T18:06:12Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> This is probably better suited for IMHO than GQ.
>
> Colibri
> General Questions Moderator
Thank you for that - I was sort of 52/48 on GQ-vs-IMHO, so I took a shot. We’ll see if this thread gets legs at all, but I think I’ve gotten the answer I was looking for (i.e. not offensive in this day and age - may have been, years and years ago).
I did chuckle at **leahcim** ’s post, though.
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### Author:  [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/9 "2011-08-20T18:09:46Z")
Variation of “Oserfer/Ossifer” is dead give away you are under the influence.
The word “Cop” might come from “Copper” of the badge or “Capture” or “Captor”. I’ve read somewhere it was originally considered a derogatory term but the common usage made them acceptable term for Police. I once got pulled over for speeding by an undercover detective flashing only his front white lights. I didin’t stop initially until he caught up to me and waved me down but even then I thought of not stopping because they are supposed to have, I think, blue and red light? When he came up to my window I asked him “Are you really a cop?” He wasn’t offended by it at all, I think.
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/10 "2011-08-20T18:10:55Z")
Context and tone are important as well. “Can I help you, officer?” usually gets a better response than “What do you want, cop?”
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### Author:  [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/11 "2011-08-20T18:29:39Z")
> [@brittekland](#):
>
> The word “Cop” might come from “Copper” of the badge or “Capture” or “Captor”.
I recall reading that it was related to the less-commonly-used verb “cop”, meaning it seize, capture, or snatch. I think it was on some obscure [website](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2209/why-are-the-police-called-cops-pigs-or-the-fuzz) somewhere.
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### Author:  [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/12 "2011-08-20T18:36:57Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Whenever they came over to the house, we would shout, “Better watch out! The cops are here!”
We have a friend who reacts to a knock at the door with “Cheese it! It’s the fuzz!”
.
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### Author:  [@brittekland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittekland)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/13 "2011-08-20T18:54:00Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#):
>
> “Cheese it! It’s the fuzz!”
I’ll have to remember that one; that’s so me!!
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### Author:  [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/14 "2011-08-20T19:15:45Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#):
>
> I’ve never heard of it being considered offensive, and I have uncle who is a cop. Cops say “cop.”
>
> “Pig” on the other hand pisses them all sorts of off. I don’t recommend it.
When I dad was a cop, back in the early 1970s, he was in community relations for a while (he started Kansas City’s “Officer Friendly” program). One of his programs was the yearly “Pigs vs. Freaks” softball game in Volker Park. Rather predictable, the cops routinely won.
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/15 "2011-08-20T21:50:40Z")
I’ve heard a story about it. I can’t swear to the accuracy of the tale, but this is what I’ve heard. In the early seasons of _Dragnet_, Jack Webb opened each episode with the words “My name is Friday. I’m a cop.” The reaction from the police was basically, “we love the show, mostly, but please stop calling us cops.” So it was changed to “I carry a badge” in later seasons. So, it was considered derogatory in the early 50’s, but probably not today.
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### Author:  [@OneMissedPost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneMissedPost)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/16 "2011-08-20T21:57:02Z")
> [@Win\_Place\_Show](#):
>
> Stupid example for illustration, but if you’re at a cocktail party and you introduce yourself as “Hi, I’m _Win Place Show_, I’m an electrical engineer; and this is my wife Suzie, she’s a cop”. Does this come across differently than “she’s an officer of the law”?
I believe that it would be better to say officer. Officer is a more respectful term.
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### Author:  [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/17 "2011-08-20T22:50:27Z")
Cop has gone from pejorative to neutral, which is a fairly unusual language development.
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### Author:  [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/18 "2011-08-20T23:17:51Z")
What about LEO? Is that pejorative or not? What does it even mean?
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### Author:  [@DivineComedienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DivineComedienne)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/19 "2011-08-20T23:20:12Z")
> [@pedescribe](#):
>
> What about LEO? Is that pejorative or not? What does it even mean?
LEO = Law Enforcement Officer
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### Author:  [@Win\_Place\_Show](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Win_Place_Show)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-term-cop-considered-insulting-or-negative-to-police-officers/593438/20 "2011-08-20T23:20:48Z")
> [@pedescribe](#):
>
> What about LEO? Is that pejorative or not? What does it even mean?
I’ve always assumed it to be “law enforcement officer”, which (in my mind) is less offensive than “cop”
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