2006-09-12 12:57:01 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Law Enforcement & Police
Come on Brandy J.,I hope YOU don't think that about all men.
2006-09-12 13:04:41 · update #1
I always thought it had to do with the fact that they were fat.. I know its wrong, but that is what i was told....
2006-09-12 12:59:16 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Pig
This derogatory term for a police officer is thought by many to be a usage coined in the 1960s. Various explanations for the term have been posited. Among them is the idea the term derives from the gas masks worn by riot police in the 1960s that made the officers look like pigs. Another is that the term is derived from George Orwell's Animal Farm, where the pigs ran the farm and took away the other animals' liberties.
Both these, as well as any other twentieth century explanations are incorrect. The term predates the 1960s by at least 150 years. (Also, the dogs were the police officers in Animal Farm not the pigs.)
The OED2 has pig being used as a term for a contemptible person as early as 1546. The earliest cite for a police officer in particular is from the Lexicon Balatronicum of 1811, which defines pig as "a China Street Pig, a Bow Street officer." The Bow Street Runners were an early police force of London, named after the street that housed their headquarters. The Lexicon Balatronicum also offers "floor the pig and bolt," meaning to knock the policeman down and run. According to Partridge, by 1873 the term's usage was restricted to plain-clothes officers. The term was an underground term, part of the criminal argot, until it emerged into the mainstream in the 1960s.
2006-09-12 13:04:32 · answer #2 · answered by misen55 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Starting in August 1968 and for a number of years afterwards, police officers were called pigs by young people, the disenchanted and even the media. This came about when a group who called themselves the Yippies, protested near the 1968 National Democratic Convention in Chicago. They had a small pig as their presidential candidate, and when police disrupted their demonstration, they started to call the police pigs. The expression caught on. Years later, the radical leaders of the Yippies became mainstream and calling police "pigs" drifted into the past.
Got that off some website.
2006-09-12 13:04:00 · answer #3 · answered by Saskia M 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think "Pigs" was just a generally derogatory term. "Cop" comes from "Copper" because a long time ago you would bribe a policeman with a copper penny to look the other way (a looong time ago). "5-0" comes from the TV show Hawaii 5-0. Who knows where "the Fuzz" came from??
2006-09-12 14:31:06 · answer #4 · answered by lmn78744 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably the same one of men being called pigs.
2006-09-12 13:00:01 · answer #5 · answered by TheMightyOne 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i don't know about pigs, but i do know that the word "cop" comes from the word "copper" because the police in london wore uniforms with copper buttons.
2006-09-12 13:04:55 · answer #6 · answered by buffysummers 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe it started in the 1960s - but I'm not sure. I think it was started with the hippies or druggies. (Maybe both.)
2006-09-12 13:00:32 · answer #7 · answered by Oklahoman 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
synonym for Pride, Integrity and guts
2006-09-12 12:59:39 · answer #8 · answered by rikv77 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋