# Straight Down the ......?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-down-the/215787>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 28, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-down-the/215787 "2003-11-28T22:19:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![cherokee7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@cherokee7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cherokee7)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-down-the/215787/1 "2003-11-28T22:19:38Z")

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I have had an ongoing argument with a know it all friend about the expression “Straight down the pike.” As in something traveling straight and to the point. He claims it is “Straight down the pipe.” I have heard both. So I am asking the teaming millions which is it?

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**Author:** ![Redsland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de0a6/32.png) [@Redsland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redsland)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-down-the/215787/2 "2003-11-28T22:28:02Z")

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According to [this](http://www.bartleby.com/68/28/2028.html), it’s “pike.”

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**Author:** ![cherokee7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@cherokee7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cherokee7)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-down-the/215787/3 "2003-11-28T22:33:35Z")

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Good enough evidence for me, I hope my know it all friend will accept it. Thanks

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**Author:** ![myles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/779978/32.png) [@myles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myles)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2003, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-down-the/215787/4 "2003-11-28T22:40:21Z")

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Actually, it’s straight down the hatch.

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-down-the/215787/5 "2003-11-29T13:49:54Z")

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We’re looking at three different concepts here. If you mean “directly,” as in the OP, it’s “straight down the (turn)pike.” More on that later.

If you mean “going to waste/failure,” it’s “straight down the pipe/tubes/toilet.”

If you mean “swallowing,” as **myles** apparently did, it’s “down the hatch.”

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**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\
**Post date:** [November 29, 2003, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-down-the/215787/6 "2003-11-29T13:56:48Z")

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Oops. I forgot the turnpike follow-up. For those outside the US, a turnpike is a limited access road. The first turnpike roads were probably private roads, and the entrances were blocked by long wooden rods (pikes.) The attendant would turn the pike to let you in.

Long before that, pikes were weapons of war. They were carried by the lowest grunts of the army, the pikers.