I keep hearing the phrase “red tape” came from notaries threading deeds with crimson ribbon and sealing the knot — like wrapping a paper burrito with string — true origin or just legal folklore? I spotted an 1879 deed in the Worcester county archives with a red ribbon and wafer seal, which made me wonder how widespread that practice was.
, notaries didn’t invent it — British (and Spanish) government bundles were tied with red tape long before, so the idiom comes from bureaucracy, not us. > I spotted an 1879 deed in the Worcester county archives with a red ribbon and That’s normal here too; the ribbon-and-wafer was just a tamper-evident bind for multi-page deeds and schedules, not the origin. If you want a quick check, skim 1860s Boston papers for “red tape” gripes (it’s always civil offices) and then flip Worcester deed books — you’ll see ribboning everywhere; did that 1879 ribbon pass through slits on every leaf or just the backer?
, this always gets pinned on notaries. I’ve handled a few 19th‑century Massachusetts deeds, and the 1879 Worcester one with the crimson ribbon + wafer is classic binding/tamper‑evidence — flip it and see if the slit runs through every leaf; that’s why clerks liked it. For the phrase’s origin, this brief etymology is solid: Red tape - Origin & Meaning of the Phrase — was the ribbon threaded through the wafer or just knotted behind it?