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The police. Contrary to a popularly accepted best guess, this North American black / hip-hop slang term did not derive from the idea that one should only look once and not double-take at the police (arousing suspicion). Instead, it derives from the first few words of personal anecdotes involving the police, often shared while socializing at BBQs etc: "One Time, I was just comin out the Korean store, and the five-oh seen me..." It became a fun slang device to simply refer to police encounters as "one times," as in "that was close! we almost had a one time." which simply evolved into calling the police "one time." This was very early 90s and only really persists among fans of rap produced in that era.
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