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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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My grandfather, an Irishman born, by a trick of fate, in Leeds England, called US pennies "Coppers." As in " Give the child a few coppers for candy." I didn't realize how apt the word was until I went to England and got large copper coins that were the smallest coin in the decimal system.
He also called policemen "coppers" Now the penny connection I understand however...why Coppers for policemen?
When you look it up it's surprising the many meanings we have given copper and cop.
Your thoughts?
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I see that the verb came first.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Ah HA! After I posted this I had lunch with our Chief of Police and he knew the answer!
In the early days of organized force in England, magistrates had constables to assist them. The constables wore, when on duty, a badge that had the words Constable On Patrol on it. Hence COP .. and in the plural extension coppers.
Another mystery solved. Ain't it great to have "sources?"
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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"Copper, as slang for policeman, derives from the verb to cop, which dates from 1704 and means to catch." http://www.wordorigins.org/wordorc.htm#copI'm standing by my first statement until it is demonstrated to be incorrect.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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standing by my first statement
Best be holding on tight to something, since M-W, Quinion and Wilton all seem to be standing by the same statement. Keerful they don't crowd you out.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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No, I agree with Quinion. Unusual. The verb "to cop", as in "He copped a pie from the stall and took to his heels" became a noun which is still in use - "It's a fair cop, guv, you got me bang to rights" - i.e. "You've caught me fair and square". We still use "to cop" but in a slightly different sense. "To cop a feel" is still sometimes used, for instance, and it means "to touch a female/male intimately but without consent".
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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OK all the links have been sent off to my Chief friend.
If you don't hear from me for awhile ..........
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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If you don't hear from me for awhile ..........
you'll be taking arrest?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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of course, Bobby's and Peeler's, (which i think of as english names for cops, (i never much use copper, but often use cop to mean policeman (person!)come from Robert Peel, (a PM? or somebody) who started the first police force in London.
Cop, unlike policeman is gender neutral.
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old hand
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old hand
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Cop, unlike policeman is gender neutral. Don't you mean sex neutral? 
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Don't you mean sex neutral?
well they are that too, in NY, there are all sorts of organizations inside the police force (which is rather large, as a ratio to population) include some that are gay, and some that are straight -- and like all NY uniformed services, includes a bagpipe society.(hard to tell what they are.. manly looking, except for the kilts!)
Uniformed services, include police, firefighters, the san men (dept of sanitation, or garbage men!)parkies (dept of parks), the MTA (bus/subway/light rail) and the dept of health (public health doctors and nurses!). all are required to wear uniforms!
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old hand
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old hand
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Re sex neutral
One thing this board has taught me to be more careful about is the distinction between sex and gender. I now try to use sex instead of gender when discussing the presence or absence of the y chromosome.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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the term sex neutral does work for me.. non sexist might fit the bill, but sex neurtal sound like some sort of androgynius creature... (He/she/it!)
you are right, gender and sex are not synonyms, but are used often enough as such, that the meaning of gender neutral is more generaly understood than the arguements against.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Since grammatical gender is pretty much a dead issue in English the two words have become conflated. The lurking prescriptivist in me dislikes the use of gender to refer to the presence or absence of a Y-chromosome. The descriptivist in me shouts that sex has primarily come to refer to the physical act, making its use in referring to the presence or absence of a Y-chromosome somewhat suspect.
But let us not be deterred! Let us fight the good fight for purity and honesty in the language against the minions of laxity!
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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The discussion has obviously engendered feelings of bravura in you, Faldo. Very X chromosome, that!
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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the good fight for purity and honesty in the language against the minions of laxity!lol! YAIM  Yet Another Ironic Merkin
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