Did You Know – The Riot Act

If you are like most of us, you have no doubt at one time or another heard someone use the phrase “riot act” in a context similar to “he read me the riot act” or “I was about to read them the riot act”. But did you really have any idea where that phrase came from or what it meant? We thought not…

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

The British government, anxious to stop protests, passed a law called the “Riot Act.” It allowed public officials to break up gatherings of 12 or more people by reading aloud a proclamation, warning those who heard it that they must disperse within the hour or be guilty of a felony punishable by death.

We aren’t punishing groups of 12 or more any longer for protesting but the basic spirit of the “riot act” is still very much in play.

 Used commonly now, the phrase has become the equivalent of “getting chewed out”.  By that definition, most of us have either read someone else the “riot act” or had it read to us!

Either way, the next time you “read the riot act” to someone, or have “the riot act” read to you, you’ll understand fully where and how that idiom originated.

We’re certainly glad to know the current “reading of the riot act” is not accompanied by imprisonment or death! But thoughtless words spoken in anger can feel pretty hurtful and be very harmful just the same. So we can all do our best to be kinder, especially when someone is truly annoying or angering us and we would LOVE to be chewing them out! Stop, take a deep breath and be firm, but don’t damage the relationship. Most especially, don’t damage the important relationship you have with your better self.