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The Kitchen Table

Phrase of the day 2/25

jim_1 (Zone 5B)

5 years ago

Red tape

The practice of tying official documents with tape of a reddish hue began in 17th-century England. By the 19th-century its use to mean inaction or delay caused by official sluggishness had become well established. Early in the 1800s, Washington Irving described a bureaucrat thus: “His brain was little better than red tape and parchment.”

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Comments (4)

salonva
5 years ago
I never knew the origin of this one so thanks!
Fun2BHere
5 years ago
I knew this one from a The West Wing episode.
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It's also in A Christmas Carol. I had forgotten all about that one and I have several books illustrated by Arthur Rackham. https://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/rackham/7.html
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Elmer J Fudd
5 years ago
Same idea but wiki says the practice came from Spain in the early 16th century

Red tape
HU-681687602
5 years ago
Stacey_mb

Thank you for these tidbits of information, Jim.

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