Have You Ever Wondered Why

... the bureaucratic process is often referred to as "red tape"?

The term "red tape" was made famous in the 1900's by Thomas Carlyle, who charged the English government with "red
tapism." He was referring to the government's practise in those days of binding official papers in red ribbon. Since a matter
having to go through government channels could be slowed down by the tying and untying of stacks of such bound
documents, the process became known, unaffectionately, as "going through red tape."

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