# Settling the phrase "cops" once and for all **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [December 21, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/settling-the-phrase-cops-once-and-for-all/707786 "2014-12-21T01:21:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![analogqueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@analogqueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/analogqueen)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/settling-the-phrase-cops-once-and-for-all/707786/1 "2014-12-21T01:21:45Z")
\*The word “handcuff” is a popular corruption of the Anglo-Saxon “handcop,” i.e., that which “cops” or “catches” the hands. Now, one of the most common of the many slang expressions used by their special enemies towards the police is “Copper”—i.e., he who cops the offending member. Strange as it may seem, handcuffs are by no means the invention of these times, which insist on making the life of a prisoner so devoid of the picturesque and romantic.\* Was browsing the [Gutenberg.org](http://Gutenberg.org) free ebooks listings and read a little of “The Strand” magazine where it shows how we came up with the word cops. Surprised that for eons on the internet no ones managed to figure out where the word “cops” came from?.. give me a break: “Constable On Patrol”?? really? (rolls eyes) It’s from handcuff… handcop… 'copper… cops. SOURCE The Strand Magazine: Volume VII, Issue 37. January, 1894. An Illustrated Monthly [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10020/10020-h/s37s12.html](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10020/10020-h/s37s12.html) ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/settling-the-phrase-cops-once-and-for-all/707786/2 "2014-12-21T03:10:01Z")
> [@analogqueen](#): > > \*The word “handcuff” is a popular corruption of the Anglo-Saxon “handcop,” i.e., that which “cops” or “catches” the hands. > > Now, one of the most common of the many slang expressions used by their special enemies towards the police is “Copper”—i.e., he who cops the offending member. Strange as it may seem, handcuffs are by no means the invention of these times, which insist on making the life of a prisoner so devoid of the picturesque and romantic.\* > > Was browsing the [Gutenberg.org](http://Gutenberg.org) free ebooks listings and read a little of “The Strand” magazine where it shows how we came up with the word cops. Surprised that for eons on the internet no ones managed to figure out where the word “cops” came from?.. give me a break: “Constable On Patrol”?? really? (rolls eyes) > > It’s from handcuff… handcop… 'copper… cops. > > SOURCE The Strand Magazine: Volume VII, Issue 37. January, 1894. > An Illustrated Monthly > [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10020/10020-h/s37s12.html](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10020/10020-h/s37s12.html) “Handcops” and “Handcuffs”, despite their similarity, are unrelated, and “cop”, whatever its origin, is of the 19th century, much too late for “handcops” to be involved. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/settling-the-phrase-cops-once-and-for-all/707786/3 "2014-12-21T09:48:02Z")
> [@analogqueen](#): > > \*The word “handcuff” is a popular corruption of the Anglo-Saxon “handcop,” i.e., that which “cops” or “catches” the hands. > > Now, one of the most common of the many slang expressions used by their special enemies towards the police is “Copper”—i.e., he who cops the offending member. Strange as it may seem, handcuffs are by no means the invention of these times, which insist on making the life of a prisoner so devoid of the picturesque and romantic.\* > > Was browsing the [Gutenberg.org](http://Gutenberg.org) free ebooks listings and read a little of “The Strand” magazine where it shows how we came up with the word cops. Surprised that for eons on the internet no ones managed to figure out where the word “cops” came from?.. give me a break: “Constable On Patrol”?? really? (rolls eyes) > > It’s from handcuff… handcop… 'copper… cops. > > SOURCE The Strand Magazine: Volume VII, Issue 37. January, 1894. > An Illustrated Monthly > [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10020/10020-h/s37s12.html](http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10020/10020-h/s37s12.html) And yet, somehow, you’ve entirely missed the point of the quote. “Copper” doesn’t come from the word “handcuff”. The article says both words come from the word “cop”, which means to catch, or take. It’s a word of Anglo-Saxon origin, still in use in modern British English. If you look a little more carefully at the internet, you’ll find that there are a good many people who’ve already found this out. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2014, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/settling-the-phrase-cops-once-and-for-all/707786/4 "2014-12-21T13:33:09Z")
Welcome to the Board **analoggueen**. When commenting on a column by Cecil or one of his minions(in this case **Dex** ), it’s helpful to post a link to the column. [Why are the police called cops pigs or the fuzz](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2209/why-are-the-police-called-cops-pigs-or-the-fuzz) ---
**Author:** ![JWCamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/53a042/32.png) [@JWCamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JWCamp)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/settling-the-phrase-cops-once-and-for-all/707786/5 "2014-12-22T02:50:00Z")
Cop is short for “Copper” which was a slang term for NYC police in the late 1800s due to the copper colored badges they wore. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2014, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/settling-the-phrase-cops-once-and-for-all/707786/6 "2014-12-22T05:07:27Z")
Will everybody please stop baldly asserting, “‘Cop’ comes from [whatever]”? We _don’t know_ where “cop” comes from. If you have a half-decent hypothesis, demonstrate it with evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2014, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/settling-the-phrase-cops-once-and-for-all/707786/7 "2014-12-23T04:10:30Z")
> [@JWCamp](#): > > Cop is short for “Copper” which was a slang term for NYC police in the late 1800s due to the copper colored badges they wore. Extremely unlikely, especially given the known timeline. Cecil quoted the OED in his column: > [@](#): > > Copper as slang for policeman is first found in print in 1846, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. But that’s been preceded: > [@](#): > > ``` > 1838 R. Nicholson Cockney Adventures 3 Feb. 107: ‘Do it at vonce, else the coppers ’ill come,’ said he of the short pipe. > > ``` The usage was in the U.S. from 1848, where the first reference is to Boston, but in a New York context: > [@](#): > > ``` > 1848 ‘Ned Buntline’ Mysteries and Miseries of N.Y. I 36: In Boston, the coppers there aint half so keen with their peepers as they are here! > > ``` Cop as a shortening of copper dates to 1859. > [@](#): > > 1859 Calif. Police Gazette 23 Jan. 2: He was at last ‘copped’ by officer Nickerson. All quotes are taken from [Quora](http://www.quora.com/How-did-the-term-cop-start-to-become-a-synonym-for-police-officer), where lexicographer Jonathon Green dallies with and then discards the New York origin: > [@](#): > > It may well be that the copper badges carried by New York City’s first police sergeants - though not the buttons worn by London ‘bobbies’ - play a part. (Patrolmen had brass badges, lieutenants and captains silver ones). However it seems more likely that this image emerged later on, and plays a supportive rather than a fully creative role. This is easily found in a two second search. As is the Stand article, which, along with all its illustrations, is available at the most likely source: [handcuffs.org](http://www.handcuffs.org/strand_1894/).