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Where does the term "caught red-handed " come from?

cuz no one had red hands?

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Answer #1

This might be completely off and I should really check if it’s right first, but Im in a lazy mood, so here goes, Maybe it has something to do with native americans? Because they’re referred to as having red skin like asians are reffered to as having yellow skin. Maybe it started out as meaning that because white men didnt really like native americans too much and taught everyone else that they were bad people. Kind of like the phrase “indian giver” native americans shared everything and didnt really know the concept of ownership because they just didnt think like that. Ah, what the hell, I’ll go look it up. Haha. :D

Answer #2

i did a little research for this because i’ve always been interested in this too. apparently a famous Scottish writer called Sir Walter Scott made it “famous” as it was a Scottish expression he used it in his novel “Ivanhoe” in 1819 and he said “i did but tie one fellow,who was taken redhanded”

the meaning however is still the same as it was then. Someone taken redhanded was in act of committing a crime or had clear evidence of him committing the crime. The orginal reference was used when someone had commited M*rder as there hands were “stained red” but it had then been refered to in other crimes.

Answer #3

http://funadvice.com/r/1530ljtf0eu

It has a more wicked meaning than I thought. Pretty sweet. See for yourself.

Answer #4

Thx

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