Cop Talk: A Dictionary of Police Slang

The work of a father and son, this lively word-book presents the slang of law enforcementofficers,including prison guards, customs officers, and street cops. It includeslanguage gathered both from working and ex-cops and from printed sources.Itevokes the life of this key speech group in an America in crisis--the prideand solidarity, the shame of corruption and brutality, the horror and theexcitement of life on the front of the thin blue line. It is the sixth ofLewis Poteet's slang dictionaries, the others having come out of NovaScotia's South Shore, the Eastern Townships of Quebec, and the worlds ofhockey, cars and motorcycles, and aviation. These words and definitionsoffer raw material for anyone interested in language and culture, andentertainment and enlightenment for anyone fascinated by the spectacle ofthis living busy world of law and outlaws. The main body of the book consists of words and phrases from police slang, followed by a personal account of Aaron's attraction to and formation in police work, a set of stories from Aaron's first employment in such work, an essay on Canadian, British, and American regional police cultures by Lewis, and a Poteet Cop Talk Quiz to test your knowledge of the slang.