idiom: Caught red-handed

Transcript

Feifei
Welcome to The English We Speak. I’m Feifei…

Rob
…and it’s me, Rob.

Feifei
Err, Rob, are those crumbs around your mouth?

Rob
No, I don’t think so. Why do you ask?

Feifei
Well, I filled the office biscuit jar with biscuits yesterday, and today it’s empty.

Rob
Oh, I see – you think I ate all the biscuits!

Feifei
You do like biscuits… hold on, what’s that in your pockets?

Rob
Err, well… they’re biscuits.

Feifei
Caught red handed, Rob! You are the biscuit thief.

Rob
My hands aren’t red.

Feifei
I’m not worried about the colour of your hands, It’s what you were doing with them! So, when someone is ‘caught red handed’ they are discovered doing something wrong and there’s no doubt. So, Rob, you’ve been found out!

Rob
Yeah, well, I can explain. But let’s have some examples first…

Examples

Jorge was caught red-handed having a sneak peek of his presents before his birthday!

We caught Svetlana red-handed eating chocolate as she said she was giving it up.

The bank worker was sacked after being caught red-handed putting money into his bag.

Feifei
This is The English We Speak from BBC Learning English. Rob has been caught red-handed stealing all the biscuits from our biscuit jar – which means he’s been caught doing something wrong. Let’s face it, Rob, you are guilty!

Rob
OK, OK, I did steal all the biscuits, but it’s because I didn’t have time for lunch.

Feifei
A likely story.

Rob
So, shall I put them back in the jar then?

Feifei
Yuck, no! I think you need to buy us some more. And I’m going to put a lock on the jar.

Rob
Why?

Feifei
So, you won’t be caught red-handed again.

Rob
Oh, crumbs! 

Feifei
Bye.

Rob
Bye!