strait-laced

Use this forum to suggest Good Words for Professor Beard.
shlomo_godick
Junior Lexiterian
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2013 10:24 am

strait-laced

Postby shlomo_godick » Mon Nov 25, 2013 4:18 am

I would like to recommend the word "strait-laced" as a future Good Word.

User avatar
Slava
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 8040
Joined: Thu Sep 28, 2006 9:31 am
Location: Finger Lakes, NY

Re: strait-laced

Postby Slava » Mon Nov 25, 2013 8:06 am

This one was done way back in 2008, but for some reason never made it to the Agora, which does make finding it rather difficult. Here's what it would have looked like:

• strait-laced •

Pronunciation: strayt-layst • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Narrow in scope, especially in the scope of social or moral principles, rigidly principled. 2. Wearing a tight garment (now rare).

Notes: Today's Good Word has been misspelled straight-laced so many times, that most US dictionaries now carry the misspelling as a legitimate alternate. The new spelling is an example of 'folk etymology', which we have discussed before. Since strait "tight, narrow" is no longer current in English, it has been replaced by the more familiar staight. However, strait-laced is more closely related to dire straits than it is to the straight and narrow (see Word History).

In Play: Strait-laced today most often refers to an overly conservative moral character: "Charity Ball is so strait-laced that she won't let her children use e-mail." This word, however, is still used from time to time to refer to other types of narrowness: "Prudence Pender's strait-laced view of life prevents her from enjoying all the opportunities it offers."

Word History: Today's Good Word is a compound of an outdated adjective, strait, often used as a noun, plus the past participle of the verb to lace. It originally referred to the wearing of corsets, which were laced up in back. The tighter (straiter) the corset was laced, the thinner the wearer appeared. Tightening the corset made movement difficult, however, so the figurative sense of stubborn and intractable in one's thought arose quite naturally. This word is still used as a noun in the word strait or straits (Bering Strait), now being replaced by the more recognizable word narrows (the Verrazano Narrows). Straits remains in the expression dire straits, which now refers to a position between a rock and a hard place.

Philip Hudson
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2784
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:41 am
Location: Texas

Re: strait-laced

Postby Philip Hudson » Mon Nov 25, 2013 11:33 am

I would say that strait is seldom used as an adjective any more. Its use as a noun has currency. There are The Bering Strain, the Strait of Gibraltar, and etc. Having no money, I am in dire straits. An adjective use is "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it,” (Matt 7:14 KJV). The NIV says “Small is the gate.”
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

Perry Lassiter
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 3333
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:41 pm
Location: RUSTON, LA
Contact:

Re: strait-laced

Postby Perry Lassiter » Mon Nov 25, 2013 8:46 pm

Welcome Shlomo! Everyone on here made their firstpost once. Hope to see a post from you again soon!
pl

Philip Hudson
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 2784
Joined: Thu Feb 23, 2006 4:41 am
Location: Texas

Re: strait-laced

Postby Philip Hudson » Tue Nov 26, 2013 1:51 am

Welcome Shlomo. Post often.
It is dark at night, but the Sun will come up and then we can see.

shlomo_godick
Junior Lexiterian
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2013 10:24 am

Re: strait-laced

Postby shlomo_godick » Tue Nov 26, 2013 5:11 am

Thank you for your kind welcome.

The word history does not mention any etymology. It would be interesting to see the etymological derivation of "strait" and see how it differs from "straight'.

Also, a question. Would the expression "in straitened circumstances" be considered an archaic usage as well?

shlomo_godick
Junior Lexiterian
Posts: 3
Joined: Sun Nov 24, 2013 10:24 am

Re: strait-laced

Postby shlomo_godick » Tue Nov 26, 2013 5:40 am

A citation from the Hebrew bible is Psalms 118:5, as per Young's Literal Translation: "From the straitness I called J-ah, J-ah answered me in a broad place." (http://tinyurl.com/o52udoz)
Note that the King James Version translates this as "I called upon the Lord in distress". The Hebrew word in question, "meitsar", is used in modern Hebrew in the figurative sense of "distress" as well as the literal sense of "straits" or "narrows".

Perry Lassiter
Great Grand Panjandrum
Posts: 3333
Joined: Wed Jan 03, 2007 12:41 pm
Location: RUSTON, LA
Contact:

Re: strait-laced

Postby Perry Lassiter » Tue Nov 26, 2013 8:16 pm

The Greek for stress is thlipsis, which is derived from a word that can imply stoning. Literally between a rock and a hard place!
pl


Return to “Good Word Suggestions”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 35 guests