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"Blue" as epithet for law enforcement

Princess AlicePrincess Alice
in General
It's always funny to me because I very rarely see police officers who actually wear blue.

Columbus officers wear white. OSU officers, and most of the smaller suburbs' police officers, wear black. County sheriff's deputies and state troopers wear grey.

Is this, like, just a weird quirk of the part of the country I live in, or does the "blue" thing stem from some time in history where the blue uniforms were more common?
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  • FossilmaidenFossilmaiden
    image Wee yea erra chs hymmnos mea.
    Cops here tend to wear black with hi-vis jackets, nowadays. They used to wear blue, though.
    From 1829, to 1839, Metropolitan Police officers wore blue swallow tail coats with high collars to counter garroting. This was worn with white trousers in summer, and a cane-reinforced top hat, which could be used as a step to climb or see over walls. The sleeves of the dark blue coats originally had a pattern of white bars, roughly 6 mm wide by 50 mm high, set roughly 6 mm apart.
  • Imipolex GImipolex G
    Touch the cow. Do it now.
    I've almost never encountered this.

    Usually I see cops referred to as "pigs" "the fuzz" or "the heat"


  • Imipolex GImipolex G
    Touch the cow. Do it now.
    or, if you're listening to CB radio on the road, they're "Smokie"
  • CalicaCalica
    Sup bitches, witches, Haters, and trolls.
    now i'm thinking of the guy who tried to get "blue lives matter" in irish on his shirt except not only did he fuck up the grammar, "blue" refers to black people in ireland (because "black" was already taken to refer to hair color)
  • Princess AlicePrincess Alice
    You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    Imipolex G said:

    I've almost never encountered this.

    Usually I see cops referred to as "pigs" "the fuzz" or "the heat"

    I almost always encounter "blue" from people who are pro-police. "Back the Blue", "Thin Blue Line", the cringeworthy "Blue Lives Matter", etc.

    Those others you mentioned tend to come from people more like you or me. :P
  • TreTre
    image
    the main character in Mirror's Edge almost exclusively refers to the cops as the Blues, so it mostly makes me think of that
  • VriskaVriska
    8luh 8luh.
    I think the cops here wear mostly black or brown.
  • Princess AlicePrincess Alice
    You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    Tre said:

    the main character in Mirror's Edge almost exclusively refers to the cops as the Blues, so it mostly makes me think of that
    🎵 And I guess that's why they call it the bluuues 🎵
  • eriophora ziaeriophora zia
    I have cut a caper with the dancing mad god
    Most in Oregon and Washington tended to wear a deep navy blue, very nearly black but not quite.
  • Princess AlicePrincess Alice
    You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    While pondering this on my drive home from Ohio State, I realized that the uniforms I tend to imagine my Centralian police officer characters in vary depending on their personality.

    Ashley Warner and Amber Quartz, the bumbling but well-intentioned police officer characters, wear cutesy Japanese-inspired uniforms in blue, with cute skirts.

    Chad Smart, Amber and Ashley's smug rival, dresses in a black uniform like you might see an American police officer wear.

    And Glenda Griffin, partner of supernatural detective Lily Weiss, wears a tan uniform similar to an American state trooper (right down to the hat!), to go along with her no-nonsnese attitude.

    It's quite interesting to examine the connotations of clothing design for your characters.
  • Imipolex GImipolex G
    Touch the cow. Do it now.
    what color does the Imicow wear
  • Princess AlicePrincess Alice
    You are the end result of a “would you push the button” prompt where the prompt was “you have unlimited godlike powers but you appear to all and sundry to be an impetuous child” – Zero, 2022
    There's no prescribed librarian uniform, so I guess the Imicow can wear whatever color the Imicow wants
  • Imipolex GImipolex G
    Touch the cow. Do it now.
    neon green it is
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