Escape Goat

Posted by Word Camel on September 18, 2002

In Reply to: Scape Goat posted by kelley on September 17, 2002

: It was Yom Kippur, a jewish fesitval yesterday and a jewish friend told me that the phrase 'scapegoat' comes from when ancient jews used to have a goat in the temple on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, and each individual would place their hands on goat, transfering their sins to it. The community would then let the goat loose into the wildeness taking their sins with it.

My friend is a public defender in the Bronx. His clients regularly complain that they are being made "escape goats".