September 25, 1998

red-handed

With the Clinton/Lewinsky issue going on, I was wondering about the origin of the expression of being "caught red-handed". Why the color "red" and who was the first one "caught"?

A lot of people have been wondering about this expression; I've gotten more questions about red-handed than about impeach. (Perhaps it's time for a special Words of Whitewater issue. Next up: is.)

Though you wouldn't know it from looking at it, red-handed, which means 'in the very act of a crime, wrongdoing, etc.', and hence 'in possession of self-incriminating evidence', falls into the category of Words Jesse Likes Because They're Scottish. First found in Sir Walter Scott in 1819, the form red-handed is a variant of the much older form red-hand in the same sense.

The red-hand form dates to the fifteenth century in Scottish law, and was quite common in the sixteenth century. It was often used in the phrase taken [or more usually, in these Scots texts, tane] redhand.

The reference is to being caught in the very act of committing a murder, with one's hands stained red with blood. It's a natural extension from there to being caught in any incriminating situation.

Another expression for the same thing is flagrante delicto, usually used in a phrase like "caught in flagrante delicto." This is from Medieval Latin and literally means 'while the offense is (still) burning'. Finally, we'll toss in smoking gun, a much more recent (1970s) expression for 'indisputable proof or evidence esp. of a crime'.