# origen of the phrase "the straight dope"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origen-of-the-phrase-the-straight-dope/133165>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [October 21, 2002, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origen-of-the-phrase-the-straight-dope/133165 "2002-10-21T02:34:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Beardedcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@Beardedcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beardedcrow)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origen-of-the-phrase-the-straight-dope/133165/1 "2002-10-21T02:34:23Z")

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So, who coined this phrase? Pharmacists? Spies? Model airplane assemblers? I tried the on-site search engine, but I think it listed every page.

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2002, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origen-of-the-phrase-the-straight-dope/133165/2 "2002-10-21T03:21:04Z")

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So _you’re_ the guy who nearly crashed the boards this afternoon.:eek: 🙂

_Dope_ shows up in horse racing around 1900 as a term meaning “information.” So to get the “straight dope” was to get the correct informaition.

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**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origen-of-the-phrase-the-straight-dope/133165/3 "2002-10-22T00:53:22Z")

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Maybe TPTB could put a link to the most recent “Origin of the Straight Dope” thread (which, if it follows the trend of the threads I remember, has links to all previous “Origin of the term Straight Dope” threads)?

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**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\
**Post date:** [October 22, 2002, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origen-of-the-phrase-the-straight-dope/133165/4 "2002-10-22T00:58:16Z")

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I meant to complete that with “…in the FAQs somewhere?”

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**Author:** ![Beardedcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a4c791/32.png) [@Beardedcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beardedcrow)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2002, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origen-of-the-phrase-the-straight-dope/133165/5 "2002-10-23T00:04:02Z")

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**Samclem** , thanks for the quick answer. I see all my guesses were way off the mark.  
**Kat** I’m with you on that idea. The FAQ is where this question should be.