# "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:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/41 "2006-11-29T14:46:07Z")
Never heard it until I read that thread. Lived in Cleveland area all my life, except for a few years in Colorado and Georgia, but then I didn’t hang with the locals unless they quilted, so slang word for police didn’t normally come up! ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/42 "2006-11-29T14:52:05Z")
I have heard it quite often but not nearly as far back as some have. Until recently the warning cry that the police are here was “5-0”. That seems to have been replaced by po-po. Not an improvement in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/43 "2006-11-29T14:52:52Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] Is it meant to be cute, like flatfoot, or insulting, like pig? How old a term is it? [/QUOTE] Still haven’t seen an answer to the OP’s question, and I’m curious. Is it a term of derision? ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/44 "2006-11-29T15:09:36Z")
[QUOTE=Eve] Well, that explains it: as an old, East Coast white woman, I always called them “coppers.” [/QUOTE] I can never read that word to myself without mentally hearing it through James Cagney’s voice. ---
**Author:** ![indecisive1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/41988e/32.png) [@indecisive1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/indecisive1)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/45 "2006-11-29T15:26:59Z")
How is it pronounced? poe-poe? pu-pu? (I’m woman of a certain age in a smallish Wisconsin town. It takes many decades for anything to find its way here). ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/46 "2006-11-29T16:27:51Z")
[QUOTE=anson2995] Still haven’t seen an answer to the OP’s question, and I’m curious. Is it a term of derision? [/QUOTE] I haven’t heard it as derision, just a nick-name. Like I said it used to be 5-0. Which I found amusing because I bet almost none of the teenagers who used it ever saw the TV show. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/47 "2006-11-29T16:28:59Z")
[QUOTE=indecisive1] How is it pronounced? poe-poe? pu-pu? (I’m woman of a certain age in a smallish Wisconsin town. It takes many decades for anything to find its way here). [/QUOTE] It’s from po-lice which makes it poe-poe. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/48 "2006-11-29T17:09:52Z")
[QUOTE=indecisive1] How is it pronounced? poe-poe? pu-pu? (I’m woman of a certain age in a smallish Wisconsin town. It takes many decades for anything to find its way here). [/QUOTE] Heh. I grew up not even in, but outside of, a very small Wisconsin town, and I remember hearing po-po in middle school, which would have made it somewhere between 1994 and 1998. Probably 1996 or so. It’s been around for more than a decade in Wisconsin, I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/49 "2006-11-29T17:20:00Z")
[QUOTE=anson2995] Still haven’t seen an answer to the OP’s question, and I’m curious. Is it a term of derision? [/QUOTE] Not how I’ve heard it. It’s basically used to call attention to the fact that a cop is nearby and better slow down! ---
**Author:** ![JCorre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3da27b/32.png) [@JCorre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JCorre)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/50 "2006-11-29T17:21:32Z")
I wouldn’t call it a term of derision…but I wouldn’t use it in front of the po po either. ---
**Author:** ![Donovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ea666f/32.png) [@Donovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donovan)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/51 "2006-11-29T17:22:15Z")
[QUOTE=anson2995] Still haven’t seen an answer to the OP’s question, and I’m curious. Is it a term of derision? [/QUOTE] In my experience, it is not derision per se, but it would generally be used (non ironically) by someone who is somewhat hostile to cops or is generally happier when they are not around - it is not a term of endearment - **Cluricaun** was pretty spot on with his comparison to ‘one-time’. I too have heard it since the early nineties, and i grew up in the suburbs of Milwuakee, WI. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/52 "2006-11-29T19:45:48Z")
[QUOTE=VCO3] Heard it for 15+ years. It’s specifically black/ghetto slang. [/QUOTE] I’ve only heard it in the last two months or so, but agree it’s a black/ghetto coinage. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/53 "2006-11-29T20:16:15Z")
[QUOTE=Monty] Californian weighing in here: I never heard the expression in Monterey, Marina, San Francisco, San Jose, Mountain View, Oakland, or Alameda. [/QUOTE] (High Fives fellow Bay area resident.) 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2006, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096/54 "2006-11-29T21:52:39Z")
Just thought I’d mention that where I work, there’s a fellow who is, shall we say, familiar to the prosecutor’s office. He goes by “Po Po”. The reason, apparently, was the frequency with which his friends would shake their heads and say, “Po’ po’ Willie got busted again.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/po-po/382096.md?page=2)