Scotch Tape is an Insult to the Scottish
Most people in this day and age want to think of themselves as nice people—at least, you'd like to think so. It is widely condemned as biassed, prejudiced, and foolish to make fun of someone based on where they are from in the world. Today, naming a product based on unfavourable assumptions about citizens of a certain nation would be very unacceptable. But Scotch tape isn't produced anymore. In the 1920s, it was produced.
Richard Drew, the tape's inventor, began testing it soon after it was created. The reason it wouldn't attach was because the adhesive was only present on the tape's edges, not the entire surface, which upset the user. Richard Drew, the tape's inventor, began testing it soon after it was created.
The reason it wouldn't attach was because the adhesive was only present on the tape's edges, not the entire surface, which upset the user. The employee instructed Drew to take it back to his Scottish superiors, i.e., Scottish people, whom he was insulting for being, as was the stereotype at the time, a bunch of cheapskate. The moniker persisted, and people started to take delight in it.
