Can you remember when cops were called "pigs"?

[kentuck]

I recall that it was rather common in '60's but I think it has been around for much longer than that?

However, since the country began worshiping our military, our local police also gained more favor in the eyes of the people. They were not always held in such high regard.

And there were reasons they were called "pigs". Time and again they abused their authority. And they will always abuse their authority. Some people recognize that. They must be held accountable at all times.

[jwirr]

1. I see a lot of similarity between those "pigs" and the ones today who are killing too many unarmed

people for as little as shoplifting and selling loose cigarettes from their own pack. Two things strike me as relevant: they are too eager to kill and they are killing for any little reason they can find. It makes me question their mental health.

[RKP5637]

14. Definitely IMO there is a mental health question with today's cops. I think

many are not mentally well.

[ReRe]

37. They give them...

... a psycho test and if they fail, they're hired.

[RKP5637]

45. Probably --- a psycho cop will just do as ordered, no thought, no questions. n/t

[ReRe]

47. Yeah...

...They're all a bunch of "Manchurian Candidates." I stay as far away from them as possible. Unless I'm marching in a protest.

[alphafemale]

2. I think it may have an "Animal Farm " reference.

Pigs were.....well pigs.

[hobbit709]

3. What you mean when?

[In_The_Wind]

4. Hahaha

[Iggo]

5. 60s, 70s.

I don't remember hearing it much after that.

[BlueCaliDem]

26. Me, either. I heard it in the 70's a LOT. Today, not at all. eom

[csziggy]

6. Just checked my references

Neither my Webster's Third Unabridged Dictionary (1976) nor my Oxford Abridged Dictionary (1971) have "pig defined as a word for cops or police. So the general use had not spread enough for the dictionary editors to add it to their works.

I know it was used in the 60s by some groups and was in more general use by the 70s.

[elias49]

7. I thought it was because of the gas masks riot police wore

when they used tear gas during the Watts riots, for one instance, in the 60s. Made them look like they had snouts.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

32. Bingo....

Then they decided the term and claim it meant

Pride
Integrity and
Guts.

They even talked about "rooting out crime".

We used to say we smelled bacon if we thought someone was a narc.

Then there was the protests where we called out, "Suuuueeeee, suuuueeeee! Heeeere pig pig pig!" at their line.

[TeeYiYi]

8. Just like it was yesterday...

...oh, wait... It WAS yesterday.

TYY

[bigwillq]

9. I still call them that (nt)

[RoccoR5955]

11. I haven't stopped calling them that...

And I work with them!

[Action_Patrol]

10. Cobra.

[link:

|

[PearliePoo2]

12. Sure do!

Because I came of age living in the U-District in Seattle from 68-73.

Probably the only place on the West Coast that had more going on was Berkeley.

(lived right across the street from the Red Robin and the University Bridge..this kid from right-wing Spokane certainly got her eyes opened...LOL! )

[likesmountains 52]

13. I remember being told that it stood for Police-In-General...

with a nod,nod wink,wink. That was in the late 60's.

[Igel]

15. Yes, that level of contempt for the cops was common among some groups in the '60s and '70s.

It wasn't pervasive though, and in many subcultures there was no contempt for the police. In many of these there's been not much of a change. It's just that as people get out and are exposed to other subcultures they can either think that they've been secluded or assume that everybody was like them at one time and others must have changed.

When I was a kid, most police were held in reasonably high regard. This was in the '60s and '70s. Nobody thought them bad, just human. I was also exposed to subcultures that despised the police. Think of it as exposure to diverse modes of thinking and judging. It seems, in hindsight, to mostly depend on whether you were part of the subculture that was responsible for the laws and public culture or if you could only respect them if you could remake both according to your own personal standards. Put bluntly.

Every group I know abuses their authority at some point. Not everybody. I've run into police, politicians, professors, school administrators, bosses, religious figures, parents, HOA "activists," teaching assistants, and pet owners who all abused their authority. General rule of thumb: Give a large enough group some authority and it will be abused. The more authority, the greater the effects of the abuse, but I'm not sure that there's a greater incidence. I assume there is because I really do think power corrupts. You can get by with more, so you act accordingly. It's one argument for making sure all power is restricted and distributed. Most people, however, may say that when the power is concentrated in "enemy" hands but when it's their guy with the badge or the political office, the more concentrated the power the better. I think that's basically focusing on the bacteria on your cornea. "Short-sighted" is an understatement.

I find that every president I've seen in office since I hit puberty has abused his authority at some point. I don't count those before I hit puberty because I wasn't paying attention and have no direct observations. Every teacher, professor, boss, religious figure, parent, school administrator, and even pet owner as well, even if they're usually reasonable and fair.

[kentuck]

16. And if those in authority have a gun and a badge and military hardware...

...they may abuse their authority just a little different than "politicians, professors, school administrators, bosses, religious figures, parents, HOA "activists," teaching assistants, and pet owners ..."

[Curmudgeoness]

31. Don't think it wasn't pervasive.

My brother-in-law was an LAPD cop during the 60's and 70's, and he even sold "pig" watches, styled on the Mickey Mouse watches but with a pig instead of Mickey. So it was common enough and the police seemed to be proud of it.

[no_hypocrisy]

17. Sure. 1. Kent State (OK that was Nat'l Guard)

2. Democratic Convention in Chicago
3. L.A. 1974 or 1975. Symbionese Liberation Army
4. Any given anti-war protest

[CBGLuthier]

18. According to The Straight Dope, the usage goes back for centuries.

If you thought the term pig arose in the 1960s, you're in for a surprise. The OED cites an 1811 reference to a "pig" as a Bow Street Runner--the early police force, named after the location of their headquarters, before Sir Robert Peel and the Metropolitan Police Force (see above.) Before that, the term "pig" had been used as early as the mid-1500s to refer to a person who is heartily disliked.


http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2209/why-are-the-police-called-cops-pigs-or-the-fuzz

[ReRe]

40. Thank you!

From English Through the Ages by William Brohaugh, pub 1998, has the following pg. 30. pig n. b. (born) 1250, "piggish person"; b. 1570; slang "police officer"

Great reference book

[Gman]

19. Yup and it was for a VERY good reason

And that reason hasn't changed. It's the same reason as what happened in Ferguson. There still pigs.

[whathehell]

20. Oh, yeah...Apparently, in the present, at least, it's use isn't limited to the USA

I've been watching some good Scandinavian mysteries on Netflix and

DVDs, like Wallander, and The Bridge and I've heard (actually 'read' via

subtitles) characters calling their police "pigs", although it must be said

that all of them were 'bad guys'.

[kentuck]

21. From the White Album

Little Piggies

[ReRe]

41. Will never forget that one.

Thanks for linking to it, kentuck.

[starroute]

22. In the 60s, it was more often "fuzz"

My recollection is that "pigs" came in among anti-war protesters as things started to get really violent around 1968-69.

"Fuzz" was more common before that, especially among dope-smoking hippies. "Heat" also shows up in Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues" and Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth." Both of those seem to go back to 1920s gangsters, but neither has the same degree of animus as "pigs."

[ReRe]

42. According to this book...

... the term fuzz : n. Amer (American) meaning police. (No reference to a time which it was first used.) Book pub 1998, so I assume it means "20th century."

I remember hearing the word used.

[Uncle Joe]

52. According to Wikipedia, Fuzz was first used in the 1920s and pig in the 19th century.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_slang_terms_for_police_officers

Fuzz
First appeared in the 1920s,[7] corruption of "force" (see above). The term was used in the title of Hot Fuzz, a 2007 police-comedy film.

(snip)

Pig
This derogatory term was frequently used during the 19th century, disappeared for a while, but reappeared during the 20th and 21st century. It became frequently used again during the 1960s and 1970s in the underground and anti-establishment culture. Now prevalent in many English-speaking countries.[18] It is also used in anti-authoritarian punk and hip-hop circles. Oz magazine showed a picture of a pig dressed as a policeman on a front cover.[19]

There is a long list of other names used to describe police all over the world on the link as well.

[ReRe]

55. "Pig"...

... goes back to from the 11th-14th centuries. Too busy to grab my book right now, but I did type it in on another thread.

[PasadenaTrudy]

23. Pigs, Fuzz, and the heat

I remember them all.

[GP6971]

27. Pigs and fuzz

didn't remember Heat until you mentioned it.

[starroute]

24. Seems to have originally been associated with the Black Panther Party

[DinahMoeHum]

25. Yes.

n/t

[christx30]

28. I think the first step in

reforming the police in the country is to remove Sovereign immunity from their list of superpowers. They should be held individually liable for false arrest, killings, and raids to the wrong house. The victims can get a huge settlement from suing the city, but there is no incentive for a cop to be cautious. A mistake should cost them everything. It should cost their pension. It should cost their personal bank account. They should be afraid when they go out every day to lose their homes. Because when they make mistakes, it can cost us everything.

[ReRe]

43. Amen! n/t

[Michigander_Life]

46. Good luck getting anyone to take that job.

Humans ARE going to make honest mistakes from time to time. Police are only given qualified immunity in cases of honest mistakes. If they willfully violate someone's rights, they do not have immunity -- prosecutors and judges have far more immunity than run of the mill cops.

[christx30]

48. They still need to be held

personally liable. They need to have as much at stake as we do. We face destruction of property, loss of freedom and death as a result of their mistakes.

I think this guy:
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/4218320/
should never have to work a day in his life. I think the pig that put him through it should lose everything. Maybe after a few cases where an over zealous cop ends up living under a bridge for violating someone's rights, the rest will fall in line.

[Mr.Bill]

29. Remember it?

Hell, I remember doing it.

[cwydro]

30. Just want to be clear on this.

Are all cops "pigs?"

Is Captain Johnson a "pig?"

Is it just white cops who are "pigs?" Is there an age range? How about Asian, Hispanic, and any other variety? Is it only males (who seem to kill people more than others)? Or do females qualify as "pigs?" Just white females?

I just want to know whom I am supposed to generalize about here according to the majority rule at DU. Let me know if I should prejudge all police, or just those of a certain color or gender.

Please clarify.

[meow2u3]

35. Only the abusive cops are pigs

The good ones are officers.

BTW, bad female cops are sows... and the kids of bad cops are piglets.

[Helen Borg]

33. Never understood why "pigs"....

Do real pigs abuse their authority? Sorry, honest question.

[rickyhall]

34. I remember

And the word often went along with those other two words: Police Brutality

[bvf]

36. I'd always assumed that was the meaning

intended by Pink Floyd on "Animals." Interesting to read here that the term has a much, much older etymology.

No, wait. Those were "Dogs." Pigs were the corporatists.

Still, I recall the reference in the 60s and 70s.

[Demeter]

38. Alas. I cannot remember when they weren't.

[Jackpine Radical]

39. I think it gained currency during the 1968 Chicago Dem Convention

and spread with the antiwar movement that surged out of that summer.

[ReRe]

44. Si, Senor(a)

I do remember using it. I remember thinking it many times this week, too. And I think it's high time we start using it again, often and regularly.

[starroute]

49. "Mayor Daley, that porcomorph"

[mindwalker_i]

50. The most evil thing just popped into my head

... after reading the title of your post. At the site where Brown was killed, someone should erect a cross and hang bacon from it.

[valerief]

51. Yeah, pigs or fuzz. nt

[Kalidurga]

53. I prefer the term Jack-boot Thugs,

I like real life pigs.

[JEB]

54. As a kid in the 50's

the old man down the road used to ask, "What's a penny made out of" when a cop was around. Then he'd answer his own question, "Dirty copper". I didn't start calling them pigs until 67 or 68. But pigs has pretty well stuck for me. Whatever you call them, watch out, they are armed and have license to kill. Blue gang.

[Blue_In_AK]

56. Yes, I still do call them that sometimes,

especially when they're being pigs, as now.