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Started By
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Did anybody else call police "coppers" when the were young instead of "Cops"
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:10 am
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:10 am
Yes I know it's because of copper buttons on uniforms.
Side note it's strange that news organizations call them "cops" instead of "police"
Side note it's strange that news organizations call them "cops" instead of "police"
34
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:14 am to sidewalkside
We used to call them coppers in my barbershop quartet before the Big War.
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:14 am to sidewalkside
No, but I didn't grow up in the 1850s
This post was edited on 10/21/25 at 8:15 am
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:15 am to sidewalkside
I did and still do. Product of watching old James Cagney movies.
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:15 am to sidewalkside
you never gonna get me, Copper... I aint coming out, see.
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:15 am to sidewalkside
"You'll never take me alive, Copper." is one of my favorite movie lines.
Then the villain character shakes his gun hand vigorously as he pulls the trigger multiple times.
Then the villain character shakes his gun hand vigorously as he pulls the trigger multiple times.
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:16 am to sidewalkside
The fuzz, ya dig?
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:16 am to sidewalkside
Yeah, seeeeeee.
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:16 am to sidewalkside
quote:
I know it's because of copper buttons on uniforms.
Almost every time someone on the internet starts with "I know" they don't.
Some think that the term cop came from copper buttons, but the majority view is "The term likely comes from the verb 'to cop,' which means 'to take or seize.'" First appeared in print around 1704.
I only heard "coppers" in old, old gangster movies.
Google AI says: The term "coppers" was popular in the mid-19th century, first appearing in everyday conversation around 1846, after the verb "to cop," meaning "to seize or capture," gained traction. The term became shortened to "cop" by 1859.
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:22 am to sidewalkside
I've always called them figs
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:23 am to sidewalkside
Im old, but Im not that effin' old. 
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:26 am to sidewalkside
quote:
it's because of copper buttons on uniforms.
ETA: some say cop is short for constable on patrol, or to"cop," as in grab or capture, don't really know
This post was edited on 10/21/25 at 8:28 am
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:27 am to sidewalkside
I’m not British so no
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:28 am to sidewalkside
quote:
Did anybody else call police "coppers" when the were young instead of "Cops"
5-O
Posted on 10/21/25 at 8:31 am to sidewalkside
only real gangsters
Posted on 10/21/25 at 9:04 am to sidewalkside
Know what an old penny is made of?
Dirty Copper
Dirty Copper
Posted on 10/21/25 at 9:04 am to sidewalkside
I didn't grow up 100 years ago
Posted on 10/21/25 at 9:07 am to sidewalkside
Yes. I was 30 years old in 1919 and I'd throw turnips at them and then run through the streets of the industrial slums with my peaky blinders hat and knee socks.
Posted on 10/21/25 at 9:26 am to sidewalkside
Were you a Peaky Blinder?
Posted on 10/21/25 at 10:10 am to sidewalkside
I still do!
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