Getting Off Scot Free

Many think these words have some vague reference to Scottish people. It actually does not. In the thirteenth century, scot was the word for money you would pay at a tavern for food and drinks. It was also used when they passed the hat to pay an entertainer.

Later, it came to mean a local tax that paid the sheriff’s expenses. To go scot-free literally meant to be exempted from paying this tax.