# "Po-po?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 28, 2006, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096 "2006-11-28T17:50:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/1 "2006-11-28T17:50:28Z")
I _must_ know. I haven’t read the [whole thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=397241), so perhaps it is answered within. But the slang _po-po_ for police: never heard it before. Is it a Southernism (Atlanta)? Is it meant to be cute, like flatfoot, or insulting, like pig? How old a term is it? Did **Askia** make it up? In which case, we _must_ try to get it into the vernacular, so the SDMB can have invented a word! [Margaret Dumont] “I say, I wonder where the opera house is? I’ll ask that po-po!” [/Margaret Dumont] ---
**Author:** ![Jayrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Jayrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayrot)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/2 "2006-11-28T17:52:02Z")
Very very common here on the west coast. Certainly a slang/underground term. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/3 "2006-11-28T17:59:34Z")
In German a “popo” is your ass, and while I understand that some policemen can **be** asses, I don’t think this is the origin of the slang term as we use it. Hope not, anyway. 😉 Q ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/4 "2006-11-28T18:02:06Z")
> **[Urban Dictionary: popo:](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=popo:)** > > POPO: A Police officer. especially the ones that rides on bikes. Orgin: California late 80's police officers that patrols certain beaches on bikes wore a... > [@](#): > > A Police officer. especially the ones that rides on bikes. > > Orgin: California late 80’s > > police officers that patrols certain beaches on bikes wore a vest that said PO in huge blockletters on each of their chest. which means Police Officer. they usually ride around in group of two’s. > > when you see them coming by. you see the word “PO” “PO” when they stand next to each other. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/5 "2006-11-28T18:05:50Z")
I wondered pretty much the same thing Eve. I had no idea what a popo was and why they would shoot the guy’s neighbor. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/6 "2006-11-28T18:07:44Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] I wondered pretty much the same thing Eve. I had no idea what a popo was and why they would shoot the guy’s neighbor. [/QUOTE] I figured out what it meant, but I thought it was an awfully weird way of saying it. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/7 "2006-11-28T18:28:06Z")
Those young people and their wacky slang! ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/8 "2006-11-28T18:30:28Z")
[QUOTE=Jayrot] Very very common here on the west coast. Certainly a slang/underground term. [/QUOTE] Lived on the West coast all my life, never heard it. Even saw that beach patrol. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/9 "2006-11-28T18:38:43Z")
I hear it all the time here in california. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/10 "2006-11-28T18:38:59Z")
I live in the midwest and have heard it mainly from those in the meth/drug/underground culture. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/11 "2006-11-28T18:42:19Z")
[QUOTE=Quasimodem] In German a “popo” is your ass, and while I understand that some policemen can **be** asses, I don’t think this is the origin of the slang term as we use it. Hope not, anyway. 😉 Q [/QUOTE] That’s what we called it when we were kids. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/12 "2006-11-28T18:44:39Z")
[QUOTE=Harmonix] I hear it all the time here in california. [/QUOTE] I did too in my college days in the 80’s. ---
**Author:** ![TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/51bf81/32.png) [@TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TLDRIDKJKLOLFTW)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/13 "2006-11-28T18:52:05Z")
Heard it for 15+ years. It’s specifically black/ghetto slang. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/14 "2006-11-28T19:14:28Z")
I believe that I first saw it used in Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. At any rate, I have heard it used by people in Baltimore, usually West Baltimore African-Americans. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/15 "2006-11-28T19:20:02Z")
I first heard it from a white kid up here in small-town Vermont. ---
**Author:** ![velvetjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f9b8f/32.png) [@velvetjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velvetjones)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/16 "2006-11-28T19:25:39Z")
Count me among those who grew up hearing po-po as a name for your backside. My mom even had this silly little diaper changing song that she used to sing that contained the phrase “pat 'em on the po-po”. ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/17 "2006-11-28T19:45:09Z")
Another Californian here that has heard the term for a long time now. FWIW I’ve always heard it to refer to “the police”, plural. So the “I’ll ask that po-po!” example would be unusual. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/18 "2006-11-28T20:06:46Z")
[QUOTE=JCorre] FWIW I’ve always heard it to refer to “the police”, plural. So the “I’ll ask that po-po!” example would be unusual. [/QUOTE] Exactly … much like saying “the fuzz”. A collective noun. I’ve heard for a good 15 years, at least, from folks of all stripes. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/19 "2006-11-28T20:12:01Z")
I’ve heard it plenty in Minneapolis, both in the plural and the singular. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2006, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/20 "2006-11-28T20:19:09Z")
Another Californian weighing in with “Heard it for quite awhile, always collectively.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096.md?page=2)