In our department at work (the crazy editors), we play a little game on Fridays: an illustrious colleague, Liesel, sends us an expression, with the challenge of telling the "story" behind it.
Here is my story behind the expression "scot free":
I think we must let our imagination
run wild ...
I reckon this expression can be
traced back to someone who was hopelessly addicted to whiskey. In his drunken
stupor he had a Damascus experience, was powerfully convicted of the error of
his ways, and decided to lay off the booze. After a period of sobriety, he
declared euphorically, tears streaming down his drink-ravaged visage: “I am
Scot(ch) free!”
(Incidentally, his wife and children
preferred him Scot(ch) bound. The friendly, bumbling generous drunk of days
gone by was far preferable to the zealous, judgmental, loud-mouthed, wild-eyed
Scot(ch) free phenomenon they now had to put up with … But that’s just an aside
…)
Love it! What a sense of humour - very clever.
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