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Rob Peter to Pay Paul

"To solve one financial problem by creating another, usually by taking from one source to cover a different debt."

A popular story claims this phrase comes from 1550s England, when Westminster Abbey, dedicated to Saint Peter, briefly became a cathedral before being absorbed back into the diocese of London, with many of its assets redirected to pay for repairs at St Paul's Cathedral, quite literally robbing (Saint) Peter to pay (Saint) Paul. It's a satisfying, specific story, but the phrase is recorded in English at least a century earlier, in mid-15th-century religious writing, which rules out the Westminster Abbey explanation as the true origin. Other theories point to a Bible passage where Paul admits redirecting church funds, or simply to "Peter and Paul" being a stock alliterative pairing of two well-known apostles' names used to represent "one person and another" in general. No single explanation has ever been confirmed.

Myth vs. FactThe Westminster Abbey/St Paul's Cathedral story is repeated as if it explains everything, but the phrase is documented in English a good century before that event took place, so it can't be the true origin, however neatly it seems to fit.

Sources: Early citation in 15th-century Middle English religious writing, per the Oxford English Dictionary; Westminster Abbey theory and biblical theory both discussed, neither confirmed, in phrase-history references.

Rob Peter to Pay Paul

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