# the straight dope

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/18800>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 7, 2000, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/18800 "2000-05-07T03:21:32Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pennys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/958977/32.png) [@pennys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pennys)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/18800/1 "2000-05-07T03:21:32Z")

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I was telling someone in the laboratory about the explanation of “OK” column the other day and got a bit of a violent reaction to the name “The Straight Dope”. This reminded me that when I first heard the name (many years ago now) I also said “What does that mean?” So I thought I might as well as ask the question “Where does the name ‘The Straight Dope’ come from?”  
It’s definitely not an expression in use around here, and it’s clearly a Yank term. Does it come from the racetrack?

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/18800/2 "2000-05-07T05:25:24Z")

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Yes, it is Yank, (although there are some extra explanations, here) :  
[The Straight Dope](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=5096)

The short answer is that it is U.S. slang from the 2d quarter of the 20th Century for “correct information.”

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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:** [May 7, 2000, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/18800/3 "2000-05-07T05:27:14Z")

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From the **Dope** entry in _Dictionary of Word Origins_: “The sense ‘information’ dates from around 1900.” No explanation is giving for how it evolved from prior meanings (it originated from Dutch _doop_ ‘sauce’).

My Webster’s entry for **dope** includes, as definition 6, “_Slang._ information; news.” but includes no etymology. Forgive me, my parents gave this dictionary to me.

I would guess that “Straight” part of it would follow from definitions 7, “reliable; factual; objective”, 8 “cogent; rational”, and/or 11 “thoroughgoing; complete”.

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2000, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope/18800/4 "2000-05-07T05:29:35Z")

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Re-reading that post, I notice that while the information was there, it was buried amidst the attempts at humor.

Straight Dope means Correct Information, specifically, good information not muddled by a lot of BS (unlike the post I linked).