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Chiefly in:   the straight and arrow

Classification: English

Spotted in the wild:

  • She who seeks to coexist with her avatar must follow the straight and arrow. (link)
  • Left with nothing, and realizing what he has lost, he quickly goes on the straight and arrow. (link)
  • The media serve as a watchdog to keep political leaders on the straight and arrow. (US Senator Chuck Grassley, Iowa)
  • “If I’m keeping the straight and arrow and I’m not doing anything wrong there should be no reason why they can’t go through and read my instant messages,” says his daughter, Jamie. (CBS News)

Analyzed or reported by:

The preceding _and_ is required. In casual speech, _and arrow_ and _and narrow_ are homophonous for many speakers.

Possible influence via the idioms _a straight arrow_ and _straight as an arrow_.

See also _straight as a narrow_.

| 3 comments | link | entered by Chris Waigl, 2005/07/13 |

strait » straight

Chiefly in:   straightjacket, straight-laced, Straight(s) of X

Classification: English – nearly mainstream

Spotted in the wild:

  • “…loosening a few strings of the economic straightjacket” (John Fischer, Harper's, July 1972)
  • “… showed up a straight-laced … church” (Dennis Farney, Wall Street Journal, 12 Nov. 1981)
  • “On the west, however, rise the Rocky Mountains, that immense range which, commencing at the Straights of Magellan, follows the western coast of Southern …” (link)
  • “… Northumberland Strait (X6-5) and the Straight of Belle Isle (X3-4, which was undoubtedly poorly sampled); Chaleur Bay (X6-4) was also significantly …” (link)

Analyzed or reported by:

  • James Cochrane (Between You and I)
  • Paul Brians (Common Errors in English Usage)

The adjective “strait” ‘narrow, tight’ is pretty much restricted in modern English to the two expressions “straitjacket” and “strait-laced”, which most speakers seem to find opaque; its homophone “straight” at least makes some sense, especially in “straight-laced”, where there’s some possible connection to “straight” ‘conventional’. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage (from which the two examples above come) notes: “The straight- spellings originated as errors, and they are still regarded as errors by many people [AMZ: Brians and Cochrane among them]. Because of their common occurrence in reputable publications, however, they are recognized as standard variants in almost all current dictionaries.”

Raw Google web hits on 10 April 2005 have the historical “straitjacket” over “straightjacket” by only 2 to 1, roughly (231k to 103k), but the innovative “straight-laced” over “strait-laced” by a similar ratio (104k to 47.8k).

[Added 24 August 2005: David’s comment, below, notes the correct “Straits of Magellan”. But this “strait”, too, very often turns up as “straight”: the Straights of Magellan, the Straight of Belle Isle (oddly paired with Northumberland Strait in the cite above), etc.]

| 7 comments | link | entered by Arnold Zwicky, 2005/04/10 |
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