Why is cop a derogatory term

Nonetheless we shall still make an attempt at giving a simple answer to your title question. For a term to be considered derogatory, it has to indicate criticism or show disrespect. But occurrences abound of cops themselves using the term "cop":. Florida cop yelling: "I'm a cop! Obama administration Department of Justice official in a conference with police chiefs from all over the U.

On top of the linked examples in your question that evince the prevalence of "cop" in journalistic writing, it is also widely heard in public talks, news broadcasts, and even police news releases. These are some examples I found on YouTube. Some of these took place in settings as formal as it gets. A psychiatrist recounting what her police client told her: "I'm a cop. This is my job. TED talk speaker telling a story. David Cameron telling a story in a press conference with Barack Obama.

To sum, "cop" is not a slur, nor is it considered pejorative by most anglophones in this day and age. It could have been a pejorative term back in the day — way back, as per personal attestations of BowlOfRed and RBarryYoung previous to the 60's and 70's, — but not today. The children's game of cops and robbers is attested from Wikipedia says. The term copper was the original, unshortened word, originally used in Britain to mean "someone who captures".

In British English, the term cop is recorded Shorter Oxford Dictionary in the sense of 'to capture' from , derived from the Latin capere via the Old French caper.

The OED suggests that "copper" is from "cop" in this sense, but adds that the derivation is uncertain. Many imaginative but incorrect stories have come up over the years, including that cop refers to the police uniform's copper buttons, the police man's copper badge, or that it is an abbreviation for "constable on patrol", "constabulary of police", or "chief of police".

Insisting that cop is a pejorative term and perpetuating that myth help reinforce the public image of police being heroic and separate from the great unwashed. Despite what we are taught to believe: "No one is above the law", as a matter of fact the police are above the law and they are different from us legally speaking. Police effectively enjoy criminally extensive immunity that has allowed them to continue murdering people of color on the street without real consequences.

I could point to numerous studies most but definitely not all of them by African American thinkers on this topic, but since it's way past midnight for me, I will just quote the New York Times to save time:. Police officers enjoy a web of protections against the consequences of their behavior on the job.

From the legal doctrine of qualified immunity to state and local police indemnification laws, it is nearly impossible for a plaintiff to get any justice, even when an officer unquestionably violated his or her rights.

Note: NYT is very generous with its wording. Black scholars have said a lot more damning things about this. The social message sent out to people via popular culture and news is that police are different from other people, socially, legally, and linguistically. Here is an interview where the creator of popular cop shows such as the Wire talks about how popular culture has helped put police on a pedestal. So to perpetuate this separation of police from the masses, the best sociolinguistic tool is to tell people to treat police with respect and call them " officers ".

George Floyd marches: Five slang words, terms that protesters want you to know. Show Caption. Hide Caption. Buddy the dog went with his human to peacefully protest.

Buddy the dog participated at a peaceful protest with his human in Cincinnati. Cop has many other senses in English outside the US. Cop is all about context. Other verbal cops bring us back to legal territory, like copping to crimes and copping pleas. It is the easiest cop-out in the world. Law enforcement officers use cop as a convenient, gender-neutral term that can apply across various agencies. The reality TV show Cops has been going strong since This is not meant to be a formal definition of cop like most terms we define on Dictionary.

Feedback We've Added New Words! Learn More About cop. Time Traveler for cop The first known use of cop was before the 12th century See more words from the same century. From the Editors at Merriam-Webster. Phrases Related to cop cop a feel cop an attitude cop hold of. Statistics for cop Look-up Popularity. Style: MLA. More Definitions for cop. English Language Learners Definition of cop.

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