Tim May enscribed thusly:
At 6:25 AM -0800 2/3/98, Michael H. Warfield wrote:
"Supertroupers" refers to State Patrol. The term "Smokie" (coined from the movie Smokie and the Bandit) refers to all police.
Nope, not coined from the movie.
Just the reverse.
Highway cops were called "smokies" (or "smokeys") when I was growing up in Virginia in the 60s, long before the movie.
Point conceded. Quite correct.
I haven't checked the derivation, but had always assumed it came from the Smokey the Bear figure, who wore a tall, broad-brimmed hat (also known as a campaign hat). The hat worn by many state highway patrols. Ergo, "smokeys."
Yeah, I think that's true as well, now that you remind me.
(I used to see the _real_ Smokey the Bear at the Washington Zoo. I think he died of old age in the 1970s.)
(A URL with a few details is http://www.4j.lane.edu/websites/roosevelt/Connections/smokey.html)
--Tim May, posting from the Bear State
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway." ---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---- Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money, ComSec 3DES: 408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets, Higher Power: 2^3,021,377 | black markets, collapse of governments.
Mike -- Michael H. Warfield | (770) 985-6132 | mhw@WittsEnd.com (The Mad Wizard) | (770) 925-8248 | http://www.wittsend.com/mhw/ NIC whois: MHW9 | An optimist believes we live in the best of all PGP Key: 0xDF1DD471 | possible worlds. A pessimist is sure of it!