circumlocution office

Gammerstang commented on the word circumlocution office

(noun) - The term circumlocution office carries with it the same idea as "red tape." It was originated by Dickens in Little Dorrit as a skit on the dilatoriness of government offices in transacting business. It was an office where business was habitually muddled up and delayed by high-salaried officials who shirked duties by passing them on to other departments, who in turn passed them elsewhere.

--J.B. Lippincott's Everyday Phrases Explained, 1913

January 19, 2018