answersLogoWhite

0

Alibi literally means "elsewhere". A defence of alibi is the defence that you were nowhere near where the crime took place at the time it took place. That is a perfectly reasonable defence. However, American gangsters in the Prohibition era made such a habit of bribing people to falsely swear that the gangster in question was somewhere other than at the scene of the crime that the word "alibi" took on a bad connotation in American ears. Eventually the Americans forgot what the word meant altogether and thought it meant "a bad excuse", or even "a lie"; the word is used in this way in the song "Big Girls Don't Cry".

User Avatar

Wiki User

13y ago

What else can I help you with?