Idiom 12 – Paint the town red

When you paint the town red, you are partying in a wild and possibly destructive way (Die Stadt unsicher machen.)

The origin of the phrase seems to date back to 1837, when the Marquis of Waterford and a group of friends ran riot in the town of Melton Mowbray, painting several buildings red. The Marquis was a well-known hooligan, dubbed ‚the Mad Marquis‘. His misdeeds include fighting, stealing, being ‚invited to leave‘ Oxford University, breaking windows, and duelling.