# The Fuzz? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [October 19, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fuzz/326903 "2005-10-19T14:45:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ikarus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ee7513/32.png) [@Ikarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ikarus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fuzz/326903/1 "2005-10-19T14:45:03Z")
Why are the police called the fuzz? Firstly, Evan Morris, the word ‘fuzz’ is commonly used to describe the police round these parts (Northern UK) so Nyah. There is a kind of chicken/egg problem with the origin theory I heard: It apparently derives from the phrase “Caught by the Fuzz”, literally meaning to be trapped by one’s… umm… fuzzier parts… but being adapted to mean being ensnared in any highly undesirably situation - such as being arrested. Thus the police-descriptive term ‘Fuzz’ arose. Of course, it could easily have transpired the other way round, with the word first being used to describe the cops. ---
**Author:** ![Ikarus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ee7513/32.png) [@Ikarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ikarus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fuzz/326903/2 "2005-10-19T14:46:19Z")
[The Fuzz?](http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mcop.html) Of course, it would help if I’d copied the URL properly… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fuzz/326903/3 "2005-10-19T16:50:42Z")
> [@](#): > > Of course, it would help if I’d copied the URL properly… Just so you know, even if you’d gotten the URL right the first time, it still wouldn’t have worked… Auto-parsed URLs don’t work in the subject line, only in the body. In the US, we do have an expression analogous to the one you’re describing: If one has a person by the “short and curlies”, that person is caught in the same way you’re describing. “Fuzz” is not a particularly common term for said hair, however, except in the construction “fuzzy peach” (referring, if it’s not obvious, to specifically female parts). But of course, most of the people caught by the police are not women. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fuzz/326903/4 "2005-10-19T21:01:27Z")
I’ve fixed the title of the thread for you, and you’ve put in the link. And, **Chronos** , I thought “caught by the short and curlies” was a Briticism, not an Americanism…? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fuzz/326903/5 "2005-10-19T21:18:45Z")
Alternative pronunciation of [old] farts. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fuzz/326903/6 "2005-10-19T21:33:43Z")
> [@](#): > > And, Chronos, I thought “caught by the short and curlies” was a Briticism, not an Americanism…? It might be, I suppose… I’ve certainly picked up my share of Briticisms. But I’ve certainly heard and used the phrase myself, in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2005, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-fuzz/326903/7 "2005-10-19T23:12:49Z")
ISTR that Harlan Ellison’s _Brillo_ was a play on ‘fuzz’. The cop in the story was a robot. Brillo: Metal fuzz.