h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In another thread the subject of policemen
and their relationship with the real people
who constitute a community led me to recall
several euphemisms people have for coppers.

Feel free to add your favourites here, but
will someone please explain to me why cops
were ever referred to as 'the fuzz'.


~jwf~

I generally just call them 'the police', or 'polis' if I'm feeling particularly colloquial.

I can find no reasons for 'the fuzz', just a load of hypotheses.

Isn't a euphamism a nice word for a nasty thing?


Surely, most of the words for policemen are rather the opposite of that.

Hence, my vote for a euphamism for them is 'policemen'

Nasty? Yes it seems so.
Often a softening of reality.
Here's the dict-dot-com:
>>
eu·phe·mism [yoo-fuh-miz-uhm]
noun
1.
the substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt.
2.
the expression so substituted: “To pass away” is a euphemism for “to die.”
<<

So it looks like I am wrong in calling these 'nicknames' euphemisms.

They are mostly slang expressions often from nasty sources.
But I wouldn't/couldn't call them synonyms since they usually
imply a negative attitude to policing.

I wonder if there is another term for such nicknames.


~jwf~

On 'fuzz':

One site says this 'is American English, 1929, underworld slang, origin and connection to the older word unknown. Perhaps a variant of fuss, with a notion of "hard to please."'

I like 'rozzers'

In the US Pennies are made of copper [sort of]. I hate having to use them, they are so worthless. Often when I try to get rid of my pennies, I tell the clerk, “Here, I hate dirty coppers.”

On the other hand, John likes bright coppers.

In one of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," there were a couple of policemen who mentioned that they were sometimes called "pigs".

I remember a TV show in which policemen were called "the heat."

That's all I can recall.

FUZZ: The origin of "fuzz" is uncertain. The expression arose in America in the late 1920s and early 1930s, probably in the criminal underworld. It never quite replaced cop. There are several theories about the origin of "fuzz":

-- American Tramp and Underworld Slang, published in 1931, suggests that "fuzz" was derived from "fuss," meaning that the cops were "fussy" over trifles.
-- A mispronunciation or mishearing of the warning "Feds!" (Federal agents). This seems unlikely.
-- Etymologist Eric Partridge wonders if "fuzz" might have come from the beards of early police officers. This also seems improbable.
-- Evan Morris suggests the word "arose as a term of contempt for police based on the use of 'fuzz' or 'fuzzy' in other items of derogatory criminal slang of the period. To be 'fuzzy' was to be unmanly, incompetent and soft. How better to insult the police, after all, than to mock them as ineffectual?" That explanation seems as good as any, and better than most.
-- This slang term may be in reference to the sound of the field radios that police commonly use. It surfaced in Britain in the 1960s.

Dibble or rozzers seem to be favourite round here (Manchester). Fuzz sounds a bit old-fashioned to me, as does bobbies, but coppers doesn't seem to go out of fashion. There's also bizzies, but that's very Liverpool-centric.

Plod, coppers, cozzers, rozzers, the filth, the old bill, bogeys, the boys in blue, bobbies, peelers, take your pick.

Just as an aside, I seem to remember that firemen were often called fire bobbies in Liverpool. I've heard it first hand and in fiction. Heard them called bizzies in Liverpool too.

I'm liking the fact that folks are actually
thinking about this, especially the fuzz bit
which has bothered me for decades, since the
1960s - living in a pot cloud in Vancouver.

It seems that 1929-1930 would put it in the US
Prohibition Era and I can easily imagine slightly
inebriated sophisticates in a speak-easy saloon
indignantly complaining that police make too much
of a 'fuss' about alcohol consumption.

"Wuz all de fuzz about, eh?" "We juzz havin'
a wee drinky-poo. Where-za harm in dat, eh?"

Similar attitudes of 'much ado about nought' were
common among loving hippy types who considered
their use of pot not to be a truly criminal activity.

One other implausible explanation has long been
that only the youngest and keenest on the force,
maybe young enough to be fuzz-faced, could have
possibly considered pot use a high priority crime.

But that's a silly idea and I can reject it now.
Finally.

Thank you.


~jwf~

One other that has not been mentioned is Dick,
as in Dick Tracy. Probably only in America.

The heat, and the expression the heat is on,
is likely a fair description of the psychological
pressure and bodily reaction one undergoes when
being pursued by police. Increased heart rates,
blood pressure, sweating, etc.

Plod I guess is descriptive of walking the beat
and perhaps the slow but steady methods of police
investigation.

Pigs I suppose came from the greed of crooked cops
who were already on the take and looking for even
higher bribes; again likely US Prohibition Era.

Bobbies I always thought was a 'nice' term and I
was told it was short for Robert as in Robert Peele,
the founder of the London constabulary. But until
I learned that I had to imagine it had more to do
with the weight of their cumbersome helmets.

Peelers would be from the same source as Bobbies.

But I have no idea where rozzers or cozzers might
come from. They have a much darker feel suggesting
a much deeper, much harder criminal source likely
not worth delving into. (Also considering that this
thread is probably flagged and under investigation
by the cyber-fuzz.)

~jwf~

Plod comes from Enid Blyton's Noddy stories - Mr Plod was the local copper and she probably got the name from the idea of a constable plodding around his beat.

Bobbies and peelers both originate with Robert Peel. Don't know about rozzers though.

Fuzz could well be a reference to the light pubic hair covering of a ladygarden, thus effectively labelling all policemen as ladygardens.

"... firemen were often called fire bobbies in Liverpool"

I thought Icky the firebobby was a local expression in Yorkshire.
We Live here, we learn here

I always assumed that "dick" was an abbreviation of "detective". I've certainly seen it used that way, although that may be after the fact.

I like coppers. I cocknify it sometimes as "Party poppers".

>>Hence, my vote for a euphamism for them is 'policemen'

Even when they're not men?

Private Eye refers to the police in general (rather than individual officers) as 'Inspector Knacker' (presumably from 'Knacker of the Yard') and I've got into that habit too. For individuals generally 'Plod'.