Monday 17 March 2008

Phrase of the Day 186: 'scot free'

"Scot free"


definition: to escape pursuers or avoid payment/prison sentence.

example: "That man who murdered his wife got off scot free! Can you believe it?"

origin: The term is a contraction of 'scot and lot'. Scot was the tax and lot, or allotment, was the share given to the poor. Scot as a term for tax has been used since then to mean many different types of tax. Whatever the tax, the phrase 'scot free' just refers to not paying one's taxes.

No one likes paying tax and people have been getting off scot free since at least the 16th century

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