# Origin of phrase “round robin” **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 5, 2000, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-round-robin/18681 "2000-05-05T17:16:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gilligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Gilligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gilligan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-round-robin/18681/1 "2000-05-05T17:16:06Z")
I had to make a “round robin” call recently, and that led me to wonder where this term came from. Some quick & basic web searches turned up the following information, but not much more: “eighteenth century sailor’s term for a letter of complaint on which the names of those signing were written in a circle so that no one of them could be identified as the ringleader” “nineteenth century - applied to tournaments in which every contestant plays every other at least once” (note – these are paraphrased from the sources) That second meaning is common, but the first seems more closely related the meaning of a round robin call, which is where one person passes along information to another, who passes it to the next person, and so on. Anyone have some ideas to the origin of this phrase, and who this Robin is? ---
**Author:** ![Iguana\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@Iguana\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iguana_Boy)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-round-robin/18681/2 "2000-05-05T18:17:54Z")
It’s a corruption of rond ruban (round ribbon) from the French, according to Brewsters ---
**Author:** ![Jois](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ea666f/32.png) [@Jois](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jois)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-round-robin/18681/3 "2000-05-05T18:22:24Z")
What about Robin Hood’s barn? Seems to me there was a running game? Possibly English? Myabe a character in a novel said something like, “Well, we certainly have been round RJobin Hood’s barn about that one.” Wild goose chase? ---
**Author:** ![Alphagene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Alphagene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alphagene)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-round-robin/18681/4 "2000-05-05T19:53:15Z")
[Round Robin](http://www.word-detective.com/back-m.html#robin) from the Word Detective > [@](#): > > …The phrase actually has nothing whatever to do with a bird, robin or any other kind. “Robin” in this phrase is a corruption of the French “ruban,” meaning “ribbon,” … It seems that in 17th and 18th century France, there was a good deal for the average peasant to complain about, but complaining to the King in particular was not a terribly good idea. The monarch’s usual reaction to a petition from his subjects was to seize the first two or three signers and have them beheaded. Not wishing to lose their heads, but bent nonetheless on petitioning for justice, clever peasants came up with the expedient of signing their names on the petition in a circle, like a ribbon. That way, no one’s name came “first,” and, assuming that there were hundreds of signatures on the petition, it was impractical for the King to punish all the signers. A similar method was adopted by disgruntled sailors in the 18th century British Royal Navy, another institution not known for welcoming criticism. Sailors often signed their names to a petition like the spokes of a wheel, so that no one of them could be considered the leader of a mutiny and hanged. ---
**Author:** ![Gilligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Gilligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gilligan)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2000, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-round-robin/18681/5 "2000-05-05T20:08:32Z")
Thanks for the information, and the link. I am unfamiliar with the Word Detective, but looks like some interesting reading. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2000, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-phrase-round-robin/18681/6 "2000-05-06T03:27:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*\* > What about Robin Hood’s barn? Seems to me there was a running game? Possibly English? > \*\* **Jois** , my mother often used this turn of phrase. She explained it by saying Robin Hood kept his cattle (i.e. deer) in the great outdoors. Going around [or round or 'round] Robin Hood’s barn means going all around the great outdoors before reaching one’s goal. It can also be used to mean taking a circuitous route to a logical conclusion. I was never quite satisfied with this explanation, but I’ve never found anything more convincing. I’ve never heard of a game called by that name.