Know Your English (May 2001)

Know your English

WHAT IS the origin of ``red tape''?

The complaint that most people have against all government organisations is that there are too many bureaucratic procedures to be followed. There are so many rules that nothing ever gets done quickly - everything happens in slow motion. This is what we mean by red tape; official rules which make it impossible for things to get done quickly. Here are a few examples:
* My leave application has been held up by red tape.
* Bharath had to put up with lots of red tape.
* Vijay says he knows how to cut through the red tape.
Why ``red'' and not some other colour? The idiom owes its origin to the practice began by government officials in England in the 17th Century. They were in the habit of tying official documents with a ribbon that was red in colour - some people argue that the ribbon was closer to pink than red! The expression ``red tape'' was introduced by Charles Dickens and made popular by Thomas Carlyle. By the 19th Century the idiom began to mean ``official sluggishness''. If you have a ``red tape mind'', you apply rules blindly.


Source:
The Hindu daily, Tuesday, May 15, 2001