English Edification Enrichment (8)

What is the meaning and origin of "scot-free"?

When you say that someone escaped "scot-free" what you are implying is that the individual escaped a tricky situation without being punished or harmed. The expression carries with it a sense of dissatisfaction. You feel that the individual deserved to be punished, but he wasn't.

Here are a few examples,

* His father is a politician and so he got off scot-free.

* Sam got away scot-free because people refused to testify.

* Ruskin made sure that Jyothi didn't get off scot-free.

Many people think that the "scot" used in the expression refers to the people in Scotland. It doesn't. "Scot" is the old word for what we today call "tax". So in the old days when you got off "scot-free" you got off "tax-free". In other words, you escaped without having to pay your taxes. Nowadays, it's only politicians who manage to escape scot-free!

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