# How did the Straight Dope get its name? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 29, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742 "2011-12-29T18:14:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SDMBKL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sdmbkl/32/7297_2.png) [@SDMBKL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SDMBKL)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/1 "2011-12-29T18:14:33Z")
MERRIAM-WEBSTER DEFINITION: Straight 1 free from curves, bends, angles, or irregularities _straight hair __straight timber_ b : generated by a point moving continuously in the same direction and expressed by a linear equation _a straight line__ the straight segment of a curve_ 2 a : lying along or holding to a direct or proper course or method _a straight thinker_ b : CANDID, FRANK _a straight answer_ c : coming directly from a trustworthy source _a straight tip on the horses_ d (1) : having the elements in an order _the straight sequence of events_ (2) : CONSECUTIVE _12 straight days_ e : having the cylinders arranged in a single straight line _a straight 8-cylinder engine_ f : PLUMB, VERTICAL _the picture isn’t quite straight_ 3 a : exhibiting honesty and fairness _straight dealing_ b : properly ordered or arranged _set the kitchen straight __set us straight on that issue_; also : CORRECT _get the facts straight_ c : free from extraneous matter : UNMIXED _straight whiskey_ d : marked by no exceptions or deviations in support of a principle or party _votes a straight Democratic ticket_ e : having a fixed price for each regardless of the number sold f : not deviating from an indicated pattern _writes straight humor__ a straight-A student_ g (1) : exhibiting no deviation from what is established or accepted as usual, normal, or proper : CONVENTIONAL; also : SQUARE 5f (2) : not using or under the influence of drugs or alcohol h : HETEROSEXUAL 4 : being the only form of remuneration _on straight commission_ MERRIAM-WEBSTER DEFINITION: Dope a : a thick liquid or pasty preparation b : a preparation for giving a desired quality to a substance or surface 2 : absorbent or adsorbent material used in various manufacturing processes (as the making of dynamite) 3 a (1) : an illicit, habit-forming, or narcotic drug; especially : MARIJUANA (2) : a preparation given to a racehorse to help or hinder its performance b chiefly Southern : a cola drink c : a stupid person 4 : information especially from a reliable source _the inside dope_ Which definition could the words, “straight” and “dope”, possibly mean? 😕 Surely, it can’t mean that these forum members are dopers or marijuana abusers! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/2 "2011-12-29T18:18:07Z")
The phrase “Give me the straight dope” means tell me the truth/give me the facts. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/3 "2011-12-29T18:18:46Z")
It’s an idiom. You can’t look up the words from an idiom separately and expect them to add up to make sense. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/4 "2011-12-29T18:20:05Z")
“The Straight Dope” is a term that basically means “the truth”. See your definition 4 for the word “dope” (although for some of us, 3c probably applies too). ---
**Author:** ![SuperAbe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f17d59/32.png) [@SuperAbe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuperAbe)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/5 "2011-12-29T18:22:11Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > It’s an idiom. You can’t look up the words from an idiom separately and expect them to add up to make sense. Absolutely. In this case, though, combining the final part of definition 3b (“correct”) with the 4th definition for dope (“information especially from a reliable source”) gets you much closer than many idioms: “straight dope” == “correct information from a reliable source”. ---
**Author:** ![Mornac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mornac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mornac)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/6 "2011-12-29T18:29:52Z")
Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Cecil was also offering us self-effacing double entendre? ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2011, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/7 "2011-12-29T18:40:02Z")
> [@SDMBKL](#): > > Straight: 3 a : exhibiting honesty and fairness > Dope: 4 : information especially from a reliable source _the inside dope_ > > Which definition could the words, “straight” and “dope”, possibly mean? 😕 It’s all right there in the definitions you quoted. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/8 "2011-12-30T01:58:50Z")
Moved from GQ to ATMB. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/9 "2011-12-30T02:09:27Z")
> [@Mornac](#): > > Is it just me, or does anyone else think that Cecil was also offering us self-effacing double entendre? It was 1973, so I think there was actually a triple entente involving weed. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/10 "2011-12-30T07:36:57Z")
We were gonna call it “The Heterosexual Marijuana Column”, but that didn’t quite flow off the tongue. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/11 "2011-12-30T10:33:55Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > It was 1973, so I think there was actually a triple entente involving weed. I’m pretty sure the Triple Entente had very little to do with weed. Good wine, beer, and vodka, certainly, but weed? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/12 "2011-12-30T15:07:30Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > I’m pretty sure the Triple Entente had very little to do with weed. Good wine, beer, and vodka, certainly, but weed? Good catch! 🙂 The word _dope_ comes from Dutch _doop_\*, literally meaning ‘dip’. The original meaning was sense 1 from the above dictionary definitions: “a thick liquid or pasty preparation; a preparation for giving a desired quality to a substance or surface.” E.g. thousand island dip to give a desired quality to crackers or potato crisps; creamy spinach & avocado dip to give a desired quality to toasty ciabatta are examples that come to my culinary mind, or maybe I’m just hungry and need to go have breakfast. I think in crafts and industry the usual meaning of dope is some chemical preparation used to treat construction or manufacturing materials, I’m not sure. \*Pronounced the same as dope; in Dutch the digraph \=the long /o:/ vowel. ---
**Author:** ![Mornac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Mornac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mornac)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/13 "2011-12-30T15:31:56Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I think in crafts and industry the usual meaning of dope is some chemical preparation used to treat construction or manufacturing materials, I’m not sure. –Anyone who’s done any plumbing knows that “pipe dope” is a paste applied to threads before screwing two pieces of plumbing together. It forms an airtight seal and adds a little adhesion also. (I have no way of knowing whether or not “pipe dope” has some meaning in the drug culture.) ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2011, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/14 "2011-12-30T16:52:17Z")
Cecil has been asked this very question a few times by folks writing in. Perhaps ironically, it has never been covered in a column. ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2011, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/15 "2011-12-31T03:31:42Z")
> [@Una\_Persson](#): > > Cecil has been asked this very question a few times by folks writing in. Perhaps ironically, it has never been covered in a column. I think because Cecil doesn’t suffer fools lightly. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/16 "2012-01-01T00:26:25Z")
The title does mean that we get some questions from people who think we’re a site for drug users. Some of my favorites: [ul][li]How do I make ecstacy?[/li][li]how long does it take to get weed out of ur syster? and how should i go about doin it [/li][li]Does LSD burn a whole in your brain?[/li][li]If poppy seeds can make you fail a drug test, what can make you pass one?[/li][li]if u took a piss test and it came back positive is there anything u can say u took that made test come back positiveis there any legal drug that will make piss test come back positive that might say u took cocaine[/li][li]hello r u a dealer i like gettin high. actually am high now erm cool am chattin to dealer.[/li][li]Where’s the safest place for a white male to buy some crack near to the Riverwalk?[/li][/ul]The list goes on. I’ve done cut-and-paste here from actual emails to Cecil. I’ve wondered whether “syster” is a typo for “system” or for “sister.” Hard to tell. Anyhow, enjoy the laughs, and happy new year. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2012, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/17 "2012-01-01T02:53:57Z")
Everyone seems to be saying #3 for “Straight” but I prefer 2b _2 b : CANDID, FRANK a straight answer_ Agree about #4 for “Dope”, though. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2012, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/18 "2012-01-01T05:34:48Z")
Wait a minute, I could swear I learned this from one of the books, but I could be misremembering: I understood that the initial free paper, it appeared in, was a counter culture sort of street paper, at the time. And that, initially, the idea was to inform people about bad street drugs that were around town. But that’s not much material for a weekly column, and so they branched out and started taking questions, any questions, outside of that thin topic. And it grew to the column we have today. If not one of the books, I wonder where I read this? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2012, 10:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-the-straight-dope-get-its-name/607742/19 "2012-01-01T10:15:33Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > I’m pretty sure the Triple Entente had very little to do with weed. Good wine, beer, and vodka, certainly, but weed? a) Nice one. b) I plead Swype.