Policing our language

Add comment September 23rd, 2009

We received a reader complaint about the use of “cops” in a headline on Sunday’s Local cover — “Rally for Rockford cops brings 1,000 downtown.” Here’s what the AP Stylebook has to say about “cop”:

“Be careful in the use of this colloquial term for ‘police officer.’ It may be used in lighter stories and in casual, informal descriptions, but often is a derogatory term out of place in serious police stories.”

In other words, it’s a judgment call — unless we choose to never use it, except in quoted material. I think that might be carrying sensitivity to an extreme, but there’s no shortage of sensitivity issues swirling around this case already.

We could have avoided the whole thing by substituting “local police” for “Rockford cops.” Yes, it would have been a bit shorter, but a lot safer.

Interestingly, John B. Bremner had this to say in “Words on Words”:

“As a noun, ‘cop’ is gaining respectability as a synonym for ‘policeman’ and does not seem to be resented by policemen. It is certainly more respectable than the barnyard word the crazies scream.”

That was back in 1980, and the barnyard word was, of course, “pigs.”

Notice, too, that Bremner used “policeman” and “policemen,” both of which would draw complaints today because of the gender component.

So word sensitivity is on the rise on more than one front — in case you hadn’t noticed.