# Was the word 'cop' once considered derogatory? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 11, 2017, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969 "2017-07-11T01:10:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969/1 "2017-07-11T01:10:04Z")
Maybe I am remembering incorrectly, or maybe I just misunderstood, but in my youth I recall the word ‘cop’ as being a bit of a slur. Like, just one level above ‘pig’. Can someone confirm or debunk my perception? mmm ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2017, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969/2 "2017-07-11T03:09:19Z")
I don’t know if I’d go as far as calling it a slur, but some people felt it was disrespectful. [Just ask Jack Webb.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMc3RS_afSE) ---
**Author:** ![Fiddle\_Peghead](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddle_peghead/32/3506_2.png) [@Fiddle\_Peghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiddle_Peghead)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969/3 "2017-07-12T20:47:09Z")
I know that my mom scolded the hell out of me around 1970 or so for using the term. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969/4 "2017-07-12T20:57:15Z")
[Previous](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=224358) [threads](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=621133). ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2017, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969/5 "2017-07-12T21:55:45Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > I don’t know if I’d go as far as calling it a slur, but some people felt it was disrespectful. > > [Just ask Jack Webb.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMc3RS_afSE) Friday was actually proud to call himself a cop. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/Hj-qhIGTXdU/hqdefault.jpg "Dragnet 1951") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj-qhIGTXdU) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2017, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969/6 "2017-07-13T13:08:14Z")
Jack Webb had a lot to do with the acceptance of the term. Prior to _Dragnet_, it was nearly always portrayed as slang used by criminals, and a lot of cops didn’t like it. _Dragnet_ used the term positively and it began to lose its bad reputation. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969/7 "2017-07-15T07:17:08Z")
NM ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969/8 "2017-07-15T07:20:16Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > [Just ask Jack Webb.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMc3RS_afSE) Good cite. But Friday (Webb) was wrong (or at least eventually he was) I’ve been on the job since '82. Not only was I able to afford to put my kids through college, we were also able to travel to Europe several times, and any damaged uniforms or equipment were replaced by the department. And overtime was paid at time and a half. What happened was policing went from being just a job to an actual profession between the time Dragnet aired to when I went on the job. This changed the pay/benefits received. I am willing to give Webb some credit for that. He was very, very pro police and many of the shows he wrote/produced/acted in may have help change the image of law enforcement to the general public. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969/9 "2017-07-15T15:20:57Z")
In different uses it is still very derogatory: “cop a feel”. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969/10 "2017-07-15T16:58:47Z")
[Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/language/acronyms/cop.asp) on the subject > [@](#): > > Instead, the police-specific use of “cop” made its way into the English language in far more languid fashion. “Cop” has long existed as a verb meaning “to take or seize,” but it didn’t begin to make the linguistic shifts necessary to turn it into a casual term for “police officer” until the mid-19th century. The first example of ‘cop’ taking the meaning “to arrest” appeared in print around 1844, and the word then swiftly moved from being solely a verb for “take into police custody” to also encompassing a noun referring to the one doing the detaining. By 1846, policemen were being described as “coppers,” the ‘-er’ ending having been appended to the “arrest” form of the verb, and by 1859 “coppers” were also being called “cops,” the latter word a shortening of the former. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2017, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969/11 "2017-07-15T21:14:27Z")
IIRC (memories back then are a bit hazy for me) it’s about the time “pig” started being the perjorative of choice. ---
**Author:** ![ChickenLegs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@ChickenLegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChickenLegs)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2017, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969/12 "2017-07-16T18:49:06Z")
I prefer “the fuzz.” ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2017, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969/13 "2017-07-16T19:01:48Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > In different uses it is still very derogatory: “cop a feel”. That’s not derogatory. As already mentioned, “cop” is just a verb meaning “to take.” The phrase describes an offensive action, but the verb itself isn’t derogatory. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2017, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969/14 "2017-07-16T19:18:10Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > In different uses it is still very derogatory: “cop a feel”. > [@Colibri](#): > > That’s not derogatory. As already mentioned, “cop” is just a verb meaning “to take.” The phrase describes an offensive action, but the verb itself isn’t derogatory. Derogatory is the wrong word to use-- perhaps “having a negative connotation” would be more accurate. “Cop a feel” implies the gesture is unwanted or, at best surprising. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2017, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969/15 "2017-07-16T20:00:27Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > Derogatory is the wrong word to use-- perhaps “having a negative connotation” would be more accurate. “Cop a feel” implies the gesture is unwanted or, at best surprising. Yes, but the negative connotation is due to the action, not really indicated by the word “cop.” If you said “grab a feel” it would also be negative. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2017, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-the-word-cop-once-considered-derogatory/790969/16 "2017-07-16T20:05:05Z")
“Cop” as a verb is kind of slangy and it implies grabbing something quickly or surreptitiously. Cop a load of this, cop a seat, cop a donut, cop a look, cop the meaning of a word. It can imply a negative action but not necessarily.