# Out of Sorts

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-sorts/1123>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [April 4, 2000, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-sorts/1123 "2000-04-04T03:23:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Dystopos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e79b87/32.png) [@Dystopos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dystopos)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-sorts/1123/1 "2000-04-04T03:23:00Z")

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quoted from a reply to…[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_264.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_264.html)

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Dear Cecil:

## I enjoy your column, but you made a mistake in suggesting that Marion E.'s explanation of the origin of “out of sorts” was wacko. Among my proudest possessions is a 1937 Webster’s Universal Unabridged Dictionary. Under “sort,” noun, first entry, definition number 6 reads: “In printing, a type or character, commonly one belonging to a font, … generally in the plural and in phrases; as, out of sorts, hard on sorts, etc.” I have been told by those “in the know” that the colloquial usage derived from the annoyance that one felt when typesetting came to a halt because the typesetter was “out of sorts.” Do I get an A? --Jay H., Stoughton, Wisconsin

In fact, I have the very same edition of Webster’s as Mr. H, and I find that if he’d looked a little farther on, after definition ('Lot, chance, fate, destiny. [obs.]) the entry gives some common phrases with the word ‘sort’ - among them:  
‘after a sort, in a sort;’ to some extent.  
‘out of sorts;’ see under Out, adv.  
‘sort of;’ same as Kind of under Kind, n.

The referenced entry gives the standard etymology. So I offer nothing here except further evidence that if at first you think you have succeeded, it’s best to keep looking.

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**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\
**Post date:** [April 4, 2000, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/out-of-sorts/1123/2 "2000-04-04T21:43:00Z")

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Corrected link  
[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3\_264.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_264.html)

(watch punctuation)