Red-light district
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the 2004 Album by American Rapper Ludacris see The Red Light District
A red-light district is a neighborhood where prostitution businesses flourish. The term "red-light district" came originally came from the police seeing strings of cars with their brake lights on, and the driver talking to someone outside the car, hence the term "red light."
Some say the origin of the red light comes from the red lanterns carried by railway workers, which were left outside brothels when the workers entered, so that they could be quickly located for any needed train movement. [1] One of the many terms used for a red-light district in Japanese is akasen (赤線), literally meaning "red-line", apparently of independent origins from the English term. In different cultures red-light districts are identified differently, the most common being "district of prostitutes" (i.e. in Hindi - Randi Guli or Street of Prostitutes; in Bengali - Khanki Para or Neighbourhood of Prostitutes.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Barbara Mikkelson, "Red Light District", http://www.snopes.com/language/colors/redlight.htm, 12 March 1998
