Origin of "Straight-laced"?
Tom Burke
Does anyone know the origin of the expression "straight laced", as applied to
people? it's generally used to indicate a person who keeps to more traditional
mores of behaviour.
The only origin I can think would be a connection with corseting, ie that
someone who wore their corsets properly was well-behaved and sound, whereas
someone who wore their corsets improperly (loosely?) was likely to be loose in
other areas of behaviour as well. But this is only a guess.
I'd welcome knowing more about this phrase, both it's technical origin (is
there such a thing as "cross-lacing"?), and when it stopped being a technical
description of something and became a more widely-applicable description.
Tom Burke
Bunny and/or Roy
: Once for the historical experts of the group....
: Does anyone know the origin of the expression "straight laced", as applied to
: people? it's generally used to indicate a person who keeps to more traditional
: mores of behaviour.
: The only origin I can think would be a connection with corseting, ie that
: someone who wore their corsets properly was well-behaved and sound, whereas
: someone who wore their corsets improperly (loosely?) was likely to be loose in
: other areas of behaviour as well. But this is only a guess.
<<snip>>
You guessed correctly about the common implications of the word as we
use it today, but you spelled it incorrectly (most people do). It's
"strait-laced". Strait is derived from Latin "strictus", meaning
tight or narrow. The "gh" in "straight" is a dead giveaway that it
comes form Germanic roots. It shares a common root with the word
"stretch".
The Oxford English Dictionary gives literary citations for and
"strait-laced" and its back-formation "strait-lace" (including a
number of variant spellings now moribund) dating back to the mid 17th
Century.
Roy (...who genreally keeps to the "straight and narrow"...)
--
"Papa Hegel he say that all we learn from history is that we learn nothing
from history. *I* know people who can't even learn from what happened this
morning. Hegel must have been taking the long view."
(John Brunner, "Stand on Zanzibar")
Nicki
<T...@greenoak.demon.co.uk> writes
>Does anyone know the origin of the expression "straight laced", as applied to
>people? it's generally used to indicate a person who keeps to more traditional
>mores of behaviour.
>
>The only origin I can think would be a connection with corseting, ie that
>someone who wore their corsets properly was well-behaved and sound, whereas
>someone who wore their corsets improperly (loosely?) was likely to be loose in
>other areas of behaviour as well. But this is only a guess.
>
>
Tom, it's actually "strait-laced", and strait means tight, or narrow, or
constraining. Same as strait-jacket. Think also of straits of sea-
water, narrow parts of the sea between land. (Oh, you're British, well,
Straits of Dover, then)
In this case it refers to prudish aunts who still wore tightly laced
stiff corsetry, when the modern girl speaker had cast these things off
and wore liberated foundations. That would date it in the 1920's, I
would think.
Regards
--
Nicki
Tiepolo2
>Does anyone know the origin of the expression "straight laced", as
applied to
>people? it's generally used to indicate a person who keeps to more
traditional
>mores of behaviour.
As Roy points out, the OED cites examples of the use of this term as early
as the seventeenth century. I do remember reading once in a history of
fashion (sorry, I don't have the reference) that being "strait-laced"
became associated with prudery because women in the middle classes tended
to lace tightly as a way of signifying their class aspirations (the
aristocracy was corseted, the peasantry only corseted on Sundays and
holidays). In the seventeenth century and later, the middle classes also
tended to be strictest about matters of morality, in large part as a way
of signifying their moral superiority to both the aristocracy and the
lower classes. This may have something to do with it.
Suzanne (salmon pajamas, black bathrobe)
Parson
of perplexity or distress" (true!), "of small transverse dimensions;
narrow";"restricted as to space or room," and "righteous, strict." The
source of the word is old French ESTREIT which means TO BIND TIGHT.
Parson
Another is narrow or confined. The origin is from the old French ESPERIT
which meant TO BIND TIGHTLY
Corseted
"Horse-Feathers & Other Curious Words" by Charles Earle Funk :
Strait-Laced
Often, because of its similar pronunciation, misspelled
"straight-laced."
The first element was 'streit' in Middle English, having been introduced
in
about the fourteenth century. It came from the old French 'estreit',
"tight,
close, narrow," and similar words (Spanish 'estrecho', Portuguese
'estreito',
Italian 'stretto') are to be found in the other Romance languages. All
are
derived from the Latin 'strictus', the past principle of 'stringere,
"to tighten, bind tightly." 'Lace' came into the language at about the
same
time, also from the French (lacier) from the Latin 'laciare, "to ensnare."
Here, too, there are closely related words in the other Romance
languages.
The two words have been found together as early as 1430 in their literal
significance of "tightly laced," but the compound term is not found until
the
sixteenth century. It was about at the same time that the figurative use
of
the term became established, for the strictures laid upon the body through
the tight lacing of the bodice were quickly seen to be closely similar
to those laid upon ones conduct through what seemed to be excessive
prudishness.
SBA
writes:
I hate to agree with anyone who has such a juvenile and silly email
address but he is correct.
Steve