• codexarcanum@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      3 days ago

      Cops. No one knows why.

      One theory is ACAB = 1312 = All Cops Are Bad, so shortened to 12 (why not 13? also the slang predates “acab” popularity.)

      Another is the show Adam-12, about cops.

      • doingthestuff@lemy.lol
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        3 days ago

        I thought it came from when there’s police going by you tell people to keep their heads at 12. Don’t look at them or they’ll accuse you of being “suspicious” and want to detain you and run your ID for warrants etc

    • doingthestuff@lemy.lol
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      3 days ago

      I didn’t learn this until I heard Post Malone/HARDY’s “Hide My Gun” with the lyric, “If the three times four’s banging at our door, would you stall and let me slip out the back?”

      Which overall the whole song almost works as a Luigi theme song.

  • doingthestuff@lemy.lol
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    3 days ago

    I wish the 12 were intellectually honest enough to just walk up and demand “papers”, acknowledging they have fully become a police state.