# Why don't police prefer the term "cop"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 20, 2003, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-police-prefer-the-term-cop/214216 "2003-11-20T00:28:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-police-prefer-the-term-cop/214216/21 "2003-11-20T07:00:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SpACatta \* > **It is an abbreviation for “constable on patrol”…** No, it isn’t. We’re trying to fight ignorance here, not perpetuate it. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SpACatta \* > \*\*“You are right, it is an honor to be called a cop, when you understand the long and proud history of the term. Your explanation of its origin is one of several considered equally valid by historians.” \*\* > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by SpACatta \* > **Or you could stop being such an irritating pseudo-intellectual. It’s from the message-board link I presented above…** I’ve looked at your link above, and I don’t see your unattributed quote anywhere. In any event, the second sentence of your quote (that of being “considered equally valid by historians”) is simply untrue. I foresee problems for you here if you always react this way when someone calls you on presenting misinformation. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-police-prefer-the-term-cop/214216/22 "2003-11-20T08:29:50Z")
Okay, kids, settle down. [The Master speaks:](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_268b.html) > [@](#): > > This passion for preposterous acronyms seems to be peculiar to Anglo-Americans, and some believe it started around World War I, about the same time many acronyms began popping up in government. Others I’ve come across include P.O.S.H. (“port outward, starboard home”), said to have been stamped on the tickets of first class passengers on India-bound British ships who wanted their cabins on the shady side of the boat during the passage through the tropics; C.O.P. (“constable on patrol”); and T.I.P. (“to insure promptness”). **All are rubbish.** > –Cecil Adams, 31 August 1984 ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-police-prefer-the-term-cop/214216/23 "2003-11-20T19:12:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mangeorge \* > \*\*That’s what I _said_. :smack: \*\* LOL. Well, yes, but, I was responding to _my_ original post. :smack: You see, in it, I promised to go look up my first answer. > [@](#): > > I had always heard that it was short for copper, and that this term was derived from the copper badges that were warn. However, this may be folk etymology. **Wait, I’ll look it up.** ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-police-prefer-the-term-cop/214216/24 "2003-11-21T00:11:22Z")
Cool 🆒, **Khadaji**. Now that the two of us know _we_ got it right we can quit smacking ourselves in the head. In the eye, actually. Ow. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-police-prefer-the-term-cop/214216/25 "2003-11-21T00:17:04Z")
I was always taught that “cop” was disrespectful and insulting and was told to only use “police officer.” I am still somewhat shocked when I hear news anchors refer to “cops.” Of course, I am very, very old. ---
**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:** [November 21, 2003, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-police-prefer-the-term-cop/214216/26 "2003-11-21T00:31:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Eve \* > \*\*I was always taught that “cop” was disrespectful and insulting and was told to only use “police officer.” I am still somewhat shocked when I hear news anchors refer to “cops.” > > Of course, I am very, very old. \*\* My cousin and her husband are both in law enforcement (she’s a bailiff, he’s a policeman.) Whenever they come to visit, we shout “Watch out! The cops are here!” Hilarity ensues. They always bring donuts. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [November 22, 2003, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-police-prefer-the-term-cop/214216/27 "2003-11-22T00:49:12Z")
regardless of it’s etymology, i don’t think that the word cop has an honorable history. (i my be mistaken, though) it used to be a pejorative. i remember, vaguely, a movie from the 30s or 40s in which a cop called a woman a broad and she said ‘women hate being called broads almost as much as a policeman hates being called a cop!’. i can’t remember the movie, but the broad was very pretty. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-police-prefer-the-term-cop/214216.md?page=1)