Red Tape Was Literally Red Tape
Tape is a narrow strip of material. The phrase about bureaucracy describes actual ribbon.
Tape is a narrow strip of material used for binding, measuring or recording. *Red tape* is not a metaphor invented from nothing: English and Spanish administrators genuinely bound official documents with red cloth ribbon from the sixteenth century, and the bundles had to be untied to be consulted. Complaining about red tape began as a complaint about literal knots. Charles Dickens used the phrase repeatedly, and Thomas Carlyle helped fix its modern sense of obstructive bureaucracy.
- A narrow strip. *Adhesive tape.*
- A recording medium. *Magnetic tape.*
- A measure. *A tape measure.*
- Red tape. *Bureaucratic red tape.*
- Old English — *tæppe*. *The source.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Noun | tape | Tape. |
| Verb | tape | Taping. |
| Compound | tape measure | A tape measure. |
| Compound | red tape | Red tape. |
| Old English | tæppe | A strip. |
- Seal it with tape.Binding.
- The interview was taped.Recording.
- Bound with red tape.Literal.
Phrases that were once literal
- Red tape — ribbon binding official documents
- Deadline — a line prisoners could not cross
- Rule of thumb — measuring by the thumb's width
- Bite the bullet — biting something during surgery without anaesthetic
- Turn a blind eye — attributed to Nelson at Copenhagen
Old English *tæppe*, a narrow strip of cloth, of uncertain earlier origin.
Was red tape a real thing?
Yes. Official documents were bound with red cloth ribbon from the sixteenth century, and the bundles had to be untied to be read.
Who popularised the phrase?
Thomas Carlyle and Charles Dickens both used it, fixing its sense of obstructive bureaucracy.