Dichos y refranes latinos

Afbeelding: Peter van Geest AI. Meaning: 1. You can never get ahold of him. 2. He’s so clever that he can get out of anything. Source: Pseudolus van Plautus (a, 4,57 (751).

Image: Peter van Geest AI. Meaning: To be discovered while doing something wrong, illegal, or forbidden—typically at the exact moment it’s happening, leaving no room for denial. Origin: The phrase has legal roots dating back to Latin: “in flagrante delicto” (literally “while the crime is blazing”), which referred to catching someone in the very commission of a crime. The English expression “caught in the act” emerged as a more straightforward translation of this concept. The phrase became common in English legal contexts by the 17th century, where being caught “in the act” provided the strongest possible evidence of guilt—there were witnesses to the crime itself, not just circumstantial evidence.