This week’s theme
Words with movie connections

This week’s words
Rambo
Keystone cop
big chill

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(KEE-stohn kop)

MEANING:

noun: An incompetent bungling person, especially a police officer.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Keystone Cops/Kops, a series of comedy films starting with the 1912 silent film Hoffmeyer’s Legacy. The films were produced by the Keystone Studios. Earliest documented use: 1917.

NOTES:

The films featured incompetent policemen in ill-fitting uniforms. They often tripped over each other, got into frenetic chase scenes, and were involved in other chaotic farcical situations. Imagine if the Avengers had no training, no plan, and tripped over their own capes. Such is the energy of the Keystone Cops.

USAGE:

“The parents of Madeleine McCann have been declared suspects by police in Portugal. Many are now referring to the case as a travesty as these Keystone cops have now played a what appears to be desperate move to try and save face.”
Lynda Johnson; Madeleine McCann Parents Shocked; The National Ledger (Phoenix, Arizona); Sep 8, 2007.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: