In 17th Century England, official documents were tied or bound by a certain material, and as a result, today we have an idiom based on that fact. What is it?

The familiar frustration of navigating excessive rules and procedures has a surprisingly literal origin. Beginning in the 17th century, English legal and governmental documents were physically bound or tied together with a reddish-pink cloth tape. This practice served a practical purpose, keeping large and important bundles of parchment secure. The colored tape also helped signify the documents' official status, setting them apart from ordinary papers and correspondence.

Over time, this physical object became a powerful metaphor. The act of locating, unsealing, and untying these bundles came to symbolize the slow, complex, and often convoluted process of dealing with the government and its vast paperwork. The tape itself was not the obstacle, but it represented the entire system of rigid formalities and frustrating delays. The idiom was popularized in the 19th century by writers like Thomas Carlyle and Charles Dickens, who frequently criticized the unwieldy nature of state institutions in their works.

Today, the physical ribbon is long gone from most government offices, but the term endures to describe any situation, public or private, that is bogged down by tedious regulations, bureaucratic hurdles, and excessive form-filling.