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Jewish World Review Feb. 9, 2005 / 30 Shevat 57645

Editors of Merriam-Webster's Collegiate
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Consumer Reports


‘Red tape’; ‘glamour’ and ‘grammar’?


http://www.NewsAndOpinion.com | Dear Editor:

I have often heard people complain about things not getting accomplished due to too much bureaucratic "red tape.'' Please provide the origin of this old phrase.

—C.L., Stratford, Conn.

Dear C.L.:

The term "red tape'' has indeed been around for some time, appearing in print many times over the last 300 years. But it did not always refer to excessively complex official procedures that cause delay or inaction. In fact, "red tape'' originally referred to the red, ribbon-like strips of material formerly used in England to bind legal documents. Although bureaucracies can get sticky at times, this tape was not the adhesive kind; rather it was simply wrapped around the documents, tied in a knot, and often sealed with wax.

This official use of red tape is mentioned several times in English and American literature. In his introduction to "The Scarlet Letter'' (1850), Nathaniel Hawthorne describes an official document from colonial times, noting the "faded red tape that tied up the package.'' In Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women'' (1868), the young Amy March, after writing out her last will and testament, provides her friend with "a bit of red tape with sealing wax'' and asks him to "seal it up for her properly.'' Thomas Hardy describes a magistrate's office as being filled with legal papers "in packets tied with red tape'' in his last novel, "Jude the Obscure'' (1895).

But even as "red tape'' was being used in this literal sense, it was already taking on its more common, negative connotation. By the 19th century, the British legal system had gained a reputation of being frustratingly complex and slow-moving. Legal documents, typically lengthy and verbose, were material manifestations of an excessively regulated and formalized system, and the bright red ribbon that bound them came to symbolize this overwrought bureaucracy. From this association "red tape'' eventually came to refer to bureaucratic rigmarole in general.

As far back as 1736 a British baron and former member of Parliament used "red tape'' in a metaphorical sense to suggest adherence to formality or routine. "Let Wilmington with grave, contracted brow,'' he wrote, "red tape and wisdom at the Council show.'' But it wasn't until the next century that "red tape'' acquired the clearly negative meaning that it has today. In 1869, for example, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote of being held up "all morning at the custom-house, plagued with red tape.''

The traditional use of red tape to bind legal papers finally died out during the early 20th century, perhaps in part because of the negative connotations that had by then become so widely associated with the term "red tape.''

Dear Editor:

The etymology in my dictionary for the word "glamour'' says that it comes from "grammar.'' Can you please explain?

—V.R., Arlington, Va.

Dear V.R.:

In classical antiquity the Greek and Latin ancestors of the English word "grammar'' were used in reference not only to the study of language but also to the study of literature in its broad sense. In the medieval period, moreover, the meaning of Latin "grammatica'' and its derivatives in other languages was extended to include learning in general. Since almost all learning was couched in a language not spoken or understood by the unschooled populace, it was commonly believed that such subjects as magic and astrology were included in this broad sense of "grammatica.'' Scholars tended to be viewed with awe and more than a little suspicion by ordinary people, a state of affairs which no doubt made it easier for many Elizabethan playgoers to accept the reality of Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus and Robert Greene's Roger Bacon in their dealings with the devil and mastery of the black arts.

This connection between "grammar'' and magic was evident in a number of languages, and in Scotland by the 18th century a form of "grammar,'' altered to "glamer'' or "glamour,'' meant "a magic spell or enchantment.'' As "glamour'' passed into more extended English usage, it came to mean "an elusive, mysteriously exciting, and often illusory attractiveness that stirs one's imagination and appeals to one's taste for the unconventional, the unexpected, the colorful, or the exotic.'' Now the word has been further generalized to mean simply "an alluring or fascinating personal attractiveness.''


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Up

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06/25/04: 'Abnegate' and 'abdicate'; 'feet of clay'; 'difugalty'
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06/03/04: 'Surrounded on three sides'; sleuths
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03/22/04: "King Canute"; "vodka"; "Cheese it. The cops!''
03/16/04: "Carrot and stick''; "hue and cry''; Where did the term "flea market'' originate?
03/09/04: Going "haywire"; "close, but no cigar"; "mahatma"
03/01/04: "Roundheel'' and "well-heeled''; "milquetoast"; "sick as a dog''
02/26/04: "Charley horse"; "`Foolproof''; "cracker-barrel''
02/17/04: "Dunce''; titles "Mr.'' and "Mrs.''; "under the weather''
02/10/04: "Turnpike''; "dead reckoning''
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01/27/04: "Decimate"; "duende"; a dessert "junket"?
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12/31/03: The past tense of "plead''; Is "old adage'' redundant?; Where did "lounge lizard'' come from?
12/15/03: "Ostracize" and "oyster''?; Where does the "mentor'' come from?; "jeopard''
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11/18/03: "Hoosegow,''; why the little finger is called the "`pinkie''; difference between "lady'' and "dame''
11/13/03: 'Take it on the lam'; 'decorum'; 'you look like the wreck of the Hesperus'
11/03/03: Origin of "hypnosis"/"hypnotism"; "all right" or "alright"; emote
10/28/03: "Blue plate special"; how to use "hoi polloi''; "Peck's Bad Boy''
10/20/03: Who was the person the artist who first used "silhouette" as an art form?; why are they called migraine headaches?; origin of "keep one's shirt on"
10/13/03: "Grey'' in "greyhound'' has nothing to do with the color?; "at loggerheads''
09/29/03: Where does the word "karaoke" comes from?; people or persons?; "synecdoche"
09/23/03: Using "eke'' correctly; fedora; why do we call an especially flattering biography a "hagiography''?
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09/02/03: "Out loud'' rather than "aloud''; "pushing the envelope''; "without rhyme or reason''
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08/11/03: "Halcyon days''; Why isn't "sacrilegious'' spelled "sacreligious''?; "red light'' and "green light'' as expression — which came first, the inaction or the signals?
08/04/03: "Votive'' candles; "cosmeticizing"; "potluck''
07/28/03: Why ‘debt’ has a ‘b’ in it; "south moon under''; why "Rx'' is used for prescriptions
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06/30/03: "Foozle"; author who wrote an entire novel without using a certain letter of the alphabet?; "kith and kin"
06/23/03: "On the fritz"; "knuckle down''
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06/09/03: "Clotheshorse"; a god named "Ammonia"?
05/29/03: With kid gloves; "receipt'' = "recipe''?; from soup to nuts

©2004 Merriam-Webster Inc.

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