Why is a criminal record called a “rap sheet”?

Rap surfaced as a word imitating sound in the fourteenth century. Among other things, it perfectly describes the noise made by someone knocking, or “rapping,” at the door. In the criminal sense it’s the rap of a judge’s gavel sounding the end of a trial that gave us such phrases as “a bad rap” and “a bum rap.” A rap sheet is a record of criminal charges wherein the suspect couldn’t prove his innocence before the rap of the gavel.

Why, when someone avoids a punishment or obligation, do we say that they got off “scot-free”?

The scot in “scot-free” has nothing to do with Scotsmen; as a matter of fact, the archaic word scot was borrowed from the Norse and meant a contribution of tax or treasure. Used in its present sense, scot first appeared in English in the thirteenth century, and its use with free became common in the sixteenth century. To be scot-free meant then, as it does now, “to be free from payment or obligation as well as punishment.”

Why are pedestrians who break the law called “jaywalkers”?

When cars were introduced, crossing city streets became a lot more hazardous than when horse-drawn carriages were the only traffic. New safety laws were introduced, and anyone ignoring them was considered a country bumpkin. In the early part of the twentieth century, unsophisticated rural people were often referred to as “jays,” as in just another bird from the country, and so their ignorance about how to properly cross a street became known as jaywalking.

Why do we say that someone who’s been through hard times has been “through the mill”?

The expression “through the mill” has nothing to do with a grist or paper mill. It came from legal circles, and in the commercial world it means to have been through bankruptcy. The phrase comes from the original English court, where petitions for discharge of debt due to insolvency were first heard. This special court was called the Mill. To have been through the mill now means to have gone through any hard time, including bankruptcy.

How did the terms of divorce evolve?

Divorce to the Athenians and Romans was allowed whenever a man’s like turned to dislike. In the seventh century it was recorded that Anglo-Saxon men could divorce a wife who was barren, rude, oversexed, silly, habitually drunk, overweight, or quarrelsome. Throughout history, in societies where men were paid dowries, divorce favoured the husband; however, in matrilineal societies where the woman was esteemed, mutual consent was required. The word alimony means “nourishment.”

Why when there is no doubt of someone’s guilt do we say they were caught “red-handed”?

Redhand goes back to the fifteenth century Scottish people and became “red-handed” within judicial circles in Britain during the eighteenth century. It means that someone has been caught in the act of committing a crime or that there is an irrefutable body of evidence to establish the criminal’s guilt. Its original reference was to murder, and the red on the hands of the accused was the blood of his victim.

Why do we say that someone in serious trouble is “in hot water”?

Before there were trials by jury, there were trials by ordeal. The ordeal depended on the crime, but if it carried the death penalty the accused could find himself in hot water. The defendant was forced into a large cauldron of boiling water, and if he survived he was clearly innocent, but on the other hand if he died he must have committed the crime because the Supreme Being hadn’t interfered.

Why is a change described as “a whole new ball of wax”?

Seventeenth-century English law used a unique way to settle the contested division of an estate. The executor divided the estate into the number of heirs, then wrote down each parcel of land in the estate on an individual scrawl. To keep it secret, each scrawl was then covered by wax and made into a ball, which was then placed into a hat. Beginning with the eldest, the heirs then drew the balls at random, with the estate settled by the contents of each ball of wax.

Why do we call a way out of a legal obligation a “loophole”?

Loops were originally holes in the thick stone walls of a medieval fortress. Some of these holes were small and used for observation. Others were slits that widened on the inside, enabling an archer to safely shoot out arrows during a siege. Finally, these walls had larger, hidden loops or openings through which it was possible to escape during a losing battle. These escape “loopholes” gave us the modern meaning.

What is the legal origin of the grandfather clause?

The term “grandfather clause” means something is exempt if in practice before a new law forbids it, and comes from a legal trick used by the Southern States to keep former slaves from voting. A law was introduced requiring the passing of a literacy test before anyone, black or white, could vote. The only exemptions were people whose grandfathers had voted prior to the new law. This gave all whites the right to vote, and virtually all blacks were disqualified.

Why do we say they’ll “foot the bill” when someone’s paying all the costs?

To foot the bill dates back to a period when women had no means of financial support, so families offered dowries to entice eligible men to marry their daughters. The cost of the wedding and the dowry were “footed up,” meaning itemized, then totalled at the bottom of the ledger. In the fifteenth century, the “foot” was the bottom line, so to foot the bill meant to pay the full amount at the bottom of the invoice.

Why do we say someone without money is both “broke” and “bankrupt”?

Bank comes from the Italian word banca, meaning “bench,” over which medieval moneylenders did business in the streets of Venice. If he became insolvent, the law intervened and broke the lender’s bench, which in Italian is banca rotta. Rotta referred to the broken bench, but another figurative word in use for a broken man was the Latin ruptus. With his bench broken, the banker’s spirit was banca ruptus.

What is the origin of the dollar sign?

Thomas Jefferson used the letter “S” with two lines through it to symbolize a dollar in a document within which he suggested the dollar as the primary unit of American currency in 1784. Prior to this the symbol was in use for the peso throughout Latin America. Consequently, the most widely accepted explanation is that the dollar sign ($) is a depiction of the twin pillars of Hercules wrapped with a scroll, as found on early Spanish pieces of eight.

Why is a charge on imports and exports called a “tariff”?

When the Arab Moors invaded Spain in the eighth century they brought with them profound cultural and creative concepts that influence that country to this day. For example, when the matador skirts the bull in their life and death ballet, the Spanish crowd cries ole, which evolved from the Arabic word Allah. Twenty miles from Gibraltar is the seaport of Tarifa, where the Moors introduced bounties on ships entering the Mediterranean, leaving us the word tariff.

Why do we have piggy banks instead of bunny banks or kitty banks?

In medieval England, pots and dishes were made from a clay known as “pygg,” and it was common practice to save spare change in a kitchen pot. Around 1600, an English potter who was unfamiliar with this custom was asked to make a pygg bank, which he misunderstood to be a clay vessel in the shape of the animal; the end result was a clay pig with a slot in its back. The piggy bank had arrived.