At all times, relations between citizens and law enforcement agencies have been, to put it mildly, strained. People showed their dissatisfaction with the executive authorities in different ways. For some, it’s enough to throw two or three strong words at the “policemen,” while others need to write something offensive on a wall or fence. And individual individuals get a tattoo on their body that reflects their attitude and worldview. Among tattooists, certain conventional symbols and abbreviations of established expressions are accepted. So...
What does acab mean?
Many, not knowing the true meaning, associated this word with Arab countries and the activities of radical Muslim organizations. In fact, she's like all cops are bastards. B with in English it means "all cops are degenerates" (or "bastards"). The acab tattoo was widespread in UK prisons. It was applied mainly to the hands. It turned out to be one letter for each finger. Over time, the inscription acab began to be applied to other parts of the body - legs (kneecaps), back, chest, etc. It was also used by English miners during strikes. In the seventies of the twentieth century, the group The 4-Skins popularized this abbreviation by releasing a song of the same name. By the end of the nineties, this inscription on clothing or in the form of a tattoo could be seen on football fans, hooligans and representatives of street gangs, although not all of them knew what acab meant. This word can also be found in various movements of punks, anarchists and the like.
Today?
Currently, this abbreviation can be said to have worldwide fame. The countries of the former Soviet Union have their own variation on this theme: “all cops are assholes.” This phrase could also be seen among prisoners during the USSR. Very often this inscription can be found in the form of graffiti. It is worth noting that in the English version, such art on the walls “lives” longer than the Russian version. Utility workers are in no hurry to erase or paint over it. Perhaps the reason lies in simple ignorance: many still do not know what acab means. Or people are simply tolerant of foreign symbols.
Alternative meaning
Nowadays it is more and more sublimated with Russian. Western culture is gradually assimilating with our traditions. This can be seen in modern slang, fashion, musical trends and
other cultural aspects. The phrase about which we're talking about in this article, was actively disseminated and promoted among teenage subcultures. In Russia, for example, you can see clothes with this abbreviation. After the release of Stefano Solim's film ACAB in 2012, she became even more popular. Yes, it appeared new fashion to use this name. But, taking into account local realities, enterprising people are using various tricks, coming up with alternative decryption options. For example, “All Cops Are Beautiful” or “Always Carry A Bible.” Perhaps over time, other variations on this theme will appear. After all, the Russian people are full of creativity!
Willy-nilly, we periodically encounter manifestations of the criminal world in our lives. Most often these are tattoos and graffiti on buildings and fences. For example, hooligans began to increasingly write the abbreviation ACAB. Not many respectable citizens know what this means. By the way, this symbol of the rebellious has big story.
In England (and not only in it), miners who extracted coal practically with bare hands, always felt violated in their rights. They lacked wages, their families starved, and their children died. And they themselves often became victims of accidents in the mines.
All this contributed to the periodic outbreak of riots against business owners. And since the rich were always protected by the police, at such “protests” the miners began shouting “All cops are bastards,” thereby expressing not so much hatred for specific law enforcement officers, but for the entire system as a whole.
Prison tattoo
Of course, a significant part of the protesters ended up in prison. Everyone there loves to abbreviate and code. This phrase has also undergone changes. It has now become the acronym ACAB. All the prisoners soon learned what the abbreviation of these four letters meant.
Since the abbreviation fits perfectly on 4 fingers, it was turned into a tattoo. People with her commanded respect because they openly protested against the system, which was not so safe.
Nowadays
After Soviet Union collapsed, many English concepts have widely entered our language. The abbreviation ACAB with its decoding did not stand aside either. Representatives of new asocial subcultures began to actively use it: skinheads, punks, football hooligans. After all, they all actively oppose the existing social system.
Tattoos A.C.A.B. migrated from the phalanges of the fingers to other parts of the body, often those that are sometimes hidden under clothing. This slogan can be heard both at hooligan protests and at football matches of those teams that have the most ardent fans.
The symbol did not disappear abroad either. People with such a tattoo are still especially respected in England and American ghettos.
A.C.A.B. in culture
Art has not spared this symbol either. In the 70s of the last century, the British rock band 4 Skins made this abbreviation popular again after several decades of almost oblivion. They recorded a song of the same name.
In 2012, the joint Italian-French film ACAB - All Cops Are Bastards was released. In it, the main character is a young policeman who came to work in the department for combating law enforcement violations. His senior mentors teach the newcomer how to deal with bullies, showing particular cruelty. But the young man begins to doubt whether his older comrades are right.
The film received the prize “For Best Film” from International Association film critics.
Alternative meanings and encryptions
What does A.C.A.B mean? in the traditional sense, we've got it figured out. But there are alternative decryptions:
- “Always Carry A Bible.”
- “All cats are beautiful” - All cats are beautiful.
- “All cops are beautiful” - All cops are beautiful.
Since this abbreviation became widely known not only to antisocial elements, but also to law enforcement officers, they began to encrypt it even more. Now on fences this slogan can be found in the form of a cryptogram 1312, each number of which represents the corresponding letter in the alphabet.
There is another encryption option using playing cards- A3A2, where A stands for ace, and 2 and 3 are letters of the alphabet.
In the CIS countries, slightly modified words are also actively used, which have undergone transformation under the influence of local grammar. So, aqab is a policeman, and aqab is a detachment, a group of law enforcement officers.
Today this abbreviation is often - distinguishing feature not thieves in law, but football hooligans who organize fights between fans of different clubs.
Some performers of alternative music genres get this tattoo. For example, rapper Guf made this inscription on his chest.
In the electronic system High school Economics also has a gradation of students, encrypted as ASAV - applicant-student-postgraduate-graduate.
This abbreviation has become the subject of some Internet memes, which either depict cats or ridicule the vices of the current police.
Now you know what ACAB means. But don’t rush to make drastic conclusions if you see such a tattoo on someone you know. It is not at all necessary that he is connected with the criminal world. Perhaps for him deciphering ACAB is simply a declaration of protest against society.
ACAB: what does it mean to different people on the site.
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Willy-nilly, we periodically encounter manifestations of the criminal world in our lives. Most often these are tattoos and graffiti on buildings and fences. For example, hooligans began to increasingly write the abbreviation ACAB. Not many respectable citizens know what this means. By the way, this symbol of the rebellious has a long history.
Where it all started
In England (and not only in it), miners who mined coal with almost bare hands always felt violated in their rights. They lacked wages, their families starved, and their children died. And they themselves often became victims of accidents in the mines.
All this contributed to the periodic outbreak of riots against business owners. And since the rich were always protected by the police, at such “protests” the miners began shouting “All cops are bastards,” thereby expressing not so much hatred for specific law enforcement officials, but for the entire system as a whole.
Prison tattoo
Of course, a significant part of the protesters ended up in prison. Everyone there loves to abbreviate and code. This phrase has also undergone changes. It has now become the acronym ACAB. All the prisoners soon learned what the abbreviation of these four letters meant.
Since the abbreviation fits perfectly on 4 fingers, it was turned into a tattoo. People with her commanded respect because they openly protested against the system, which was not so safe.
Nowadays
After the Soviet Union collapsed, many English concepts entered our language widely. The abbreviation ACAB with its decoding did not stand aside either. Representatives of new asocial subcultures began to actively use it: skinheads, punks, football hooligans. After all, they all actively oppose the existing social system.
Tattoos A.C.A.B. migrated from the phalanges of the fingers to other parts of the body, often those that are sometimes hidden under clothing. This slogan can be heard both at hooligan protests and at football matches of those teams that have the most ardent fans.
The symbol did not disappear abroad either. People with such a tattoo are still especially respected in England and American ghettos.
A.C.A.B. in culture
Art has not spared this symbol either. In the 70s of the last century, the British rock band 4 Skins made this abbreviation popular again after several decades of almost oblivion. They recorded a song of the same name.
In 2012, the joint Italian-French film ACAB - All Cops Are Bastards was released. In it, the main character is a young policeman who came to work in the department for combating law enforcement violations. His senior mentors teach the newcomer how to deal with bullies, showing particular cruelty. But the young man begins to doubt whether his older comrades are right.
The film received the Best Film award from the International Association of Film Critics.
Alternative meanings and encryptions
What does A.C.A.B mean? in the traditional sense, we've got it figured out. But there are alternative decryptions:
- "Always Carry A Bible" - Always Carry A Bible.
- “All cats are beautiful” - All cats are beautiful.
- "All cops are beautiful" - All cops are beautiful.
Since this abbreviation became widely known not only to antisocial elements, but also to law enforcement officers, they began to encrypt it even more. Now on fences this slogan can be found in the form of a cryptogram 1312, each number of which represents the corresponding letter in the alphabet.
There is another encryption option using playing cards - A3A2, where A stands for ace, and 2 and 3 are letters of the alphabet.
In the CIS countries, slightly modified words are also actively used, which have undergone transformation under the influence of local grammar. So, aqab is a policeman, and aqab is a detachment, a group of law enforcement officers.
Today, this abbreviation is often a distinctive feature not of “thieves in law”, but of football hooligans who organize fights between fans of different clubs.
Some performers of alternative music genres get this tattoo. For example, rapper Guf made this inscription on his chest.
The electronic system of the Higher School of Economics also has a gradation of students, encrypted as ACAV - applicant-student-postgraduate-graduate.
This abbreviation has become the subject of some Internet memes, which either depict cats or ridicule the vices of the current police.
Now you know what ACAB means. But don’t rush to make drastic conclusions if you see such a tattoo on someone you know. It is not at all necessary that he is connected with the criminal world. Perhaps for him deciphering ACAB is simply a declaration of protest against society.
No, no, and the strange abbreviation ACAV will flash. What kind of abbreviation is this, reminiscent of the name football club, or a designation for the Middle East. What does it have to do with our realities and why is it gaining popularity in Russia and others
Original English transcript
Firstly, this abbreviation does not consist of Cyrillic letters. "All Cops Are Bastards!" - are categorically stated by those who are always dissatisfied with the actions law enforcement residents Not all of them, of course, but only those who had a sad experience of dealing with the police. By tattooing a “terrible” abbreviation on the chest, back or arms (as an option, on the fingers, a letter on each except the thumb), football fans, students burning cars and hooligans breaking windows express their disagreement with the policy of the authorities who do not allow them to “ turn around full program" So, we can say about ASAV that the souls of rebels oppressed by the police. “All the cops (they are also policemen, they are also “pharaohs”, they are also “cops”) - bad people" - this is approximately how these four are deciphered english letters"A.C.A.B." But there are other options...
From the point of view of the police themselves
Knowing how ASAV stands for, one would assume that American cops and British “bobbies”, seeing this inscription, would be terribly upset or, in extreme cases, terribly angry. It is possible that some representatives of law enforcement agencies react this way, but for the most part Western “cops” are not as stupid as their eternal opponents - lawbreakers - think (it is not for nothing that this word has a common root with “mentality”, that is, the mind or thinking). And the best answer to any rudeness clever man considers humor. British police have their own opinion about what ACAV means. "All Cops Are Beautiful", for example, which literally means: "All police officers are beautiful." Or “Always Carry A Bible” - “The Bible is always with me.”
ACAB in art
In 2012, a very good Italian-French film “ASAV” was released. The film, directed by Solim, talks about the problem of relations between security forces government agencies with the rest of society, revealing it as if “from the inside.” Main character- a policeman, and not an ordinary one, but from a special unit, an analogue of our riot police. This picture added popularity to the four-letter abbreviation. The main advantage of the film is its honesty, although sometimes the scenes of violence go over the edge.
Can you say more about ACAV? What is this - a song from the seventies by The 4-Skins, however, most listeners have forgotten this rather noisy composition.
The abbreviation is also found in modern rap, punk and other protest compositions that promote personal freedom on the verge and beyond permissiveness.
ASAV is with us
Creators of wall compositions in our country often use these letters to enhance the dramatic effect of their works. IN Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and the countries formed on its ruins, the relationship between hooligans and the police was also difficult, which found a wide variety of expressions, from inscriptions on the corners of houses to tattoos. Esoteric abbreviations appeared, understandable only to “initiates”, former prisoners and those to whom their meaning was explained. And given the ever deeper penetration of the English language into our everyday speech, it should not be surprising that instead of the phrase “All cops are kazly!” some ardent young man - football fan- Having served a fifteen-day administrative sentence for hooliganism, he scribbles four ASAVs on the wall. What this means, he may not reproduce verbatim in Shakespeare’s language, but he will convey the meaning in his own words.