When did "red line" replace "line in the sand" as a metaphor for one's limit of tolerance?
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josie (
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April 26th, 2013
I recall when people would draw a “line in the sand” which meant if you crossed it there would be trouble.
Now, almost suddenly, that figure of speech has disappeared and been replace by “red line”.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57581664/obama-explains-why-red-line-is-not-crossed-yet-in-syria/
I sort of became aware of it when Benjamin Netanyahu used it in reference to Iran’s nuke program.
Now I hear the president using it in reference to Syrian policy, and of course as a result the press is all over it too.
I do not think it is anywhere near as gripping as “line in the sand”
Red line, to me sounds like you need to shift into third gear.
When did this happen?
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12 Answers
That’s funny. I noticed this phrase used this week, too, and thought it very odd usage. I found this article from 2004, but I can’t see anything earlier than that. There are a few online discussions about its origin, but I couldn’t find anything conclusive.
I would guess it came about during the cold war. I mean, cross the “red” line and there is no going back. Sounds right for the period. However, when it became common, any persons guess is as good as anyones.
“Red line” in my understanding has always been a type of “prejudice by district”, in the way that banks and other financial institutions would “red line” areas on a map and generally refuse to lend money in those areas.
Aside from that it’s a mechanical thing. When you “red line” a tool or an instrument you’re attempting to use it beyond its rated capacity, and breaking safety rules.
Maybe Obama is a Petrolhead.
In today’s crisis-driven environment, Mediaspeak, Govspeak, Militaryspeak and Techspeak have ramped up the language to the point where “line in the sand” sounds more appropriate to a case of a child teasing another in the school yard than to one of a country threatening another with nerve gas or nukes. Plus, red is a strong color that signifiies intense emotions and concepts such as love, anger, warning or death.
Since 50 shades of grey came out people started calling it a hard limit.
Here’s(Battle_of_Balaclava)#Later_uses_of_the_term a discussion of where the term originates and how it’s been used metaphorically. (Not sure why link came in wonky but the red link works.)
@janbb This is why I find the use of “crossing the red line” so confusing in a military context. The idea of “the thin red line” is not so different from that of “the thin blue line”, meaning a seemingly insufficient defence (or, I guess, offence) between “us” and “the enemy”.
But in “crossing the red line”, the red line seems to be some sort of threshold – as @josie said, like a line drawn in the sand. It’s a different thing. The first time I heard it, I thought it was misspoken – a conflation of “thin red line” and “line in the sand”.
@glacial Unless they just expand it to mean the barricade or line of defense. But true, it is perplexing.
I just figured it was like red lining the tach on your car, go too far over the red line and your engine will blow!
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