# What is the etymology for "the straight dope"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etymology-for-the-straight-dope/707582 "2014-12-18T16:37:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etymology-for-the-straight-dope/707582/1 "2014-12-18T16:37:42Z")
If ever there was a question that the teeming millions should be able to handle, it’s this. What is the origin of the phrase “the straight dope”, meaning “the unvarnished truth”? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etymology-for-the-straight-dope/707582/2 "2014-12-18T17:05:03Z")
Early 19th century, according to web references like the Oxford English Dictionary. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etymology-for-the-straight-dope/707582/3 "2014-12-18T17:26:24Z")
From the Online Etymology Dictionary: > [@](#): > > …Sense of “inside information” (1901) may come from knowing before the race which horse had been drugged to influence performance… ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etymology-for-the-straight-dope/707582/4 "2014-12-18T19:11:29Z")
hmm…the two answers appear to be about a century apart. I had presumed that “dope” had something to do with drugs, so the information about horse racing makes sense (although I didn’t realize that people were sophisticated enough to know how to drug horses for enhanced performance in 1901). Still, why does knowing which horse was drugged constitute the “straight” dope? If anything, crooked is a better word to connote dishonesty or cheating. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etymology-for-the-straight-dope/707582/5 "2014-12-18T19:57:01Z")
It didn’t. Dope by itself can mean inside information, such as which horse was drugged but it can also mean deceptive or fraudulent fast-talking. Examples from the OED include: 1904 W. H. Smith Promoters iii. 72 Unless you cover your dope with a sort of angel-of-light coating that would fool Gabriel himself, you’ll never get there. 1915 F. Froëst & G. Dilnot Crime Club xii, ‘Don’t pull any of that dope on me,’ said Coyne sharply. 1919 Detective Story Mag. XXVIII. i. 13, I suggested it to a detective, but he laughed at me and said the article was nothing but ‘dope’. Straight has a long history of meaning non-evasive and frank as in straight talks. When you say, give me the straight dope, you’re saying, give me the real answers and don’t waste my time with foolishness you think I want to hear. ---
**Author:** ![Teuton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teuton/32/3864_2.png) [@Teuton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teuton)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etymology-for-the-straight-dope/707582/6 "2014-12-18T21:27:41Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > (although I didn’t realize that people were sophisticated enough to know how to drug horses for enhanced performance in 1901). They weren’t, the horses were doped to _reduce_ performance. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etymology-for-the-straight-dope/707582/7 "2014-12-18T21:36:41Z")
I think I saw where the word comes from the Dutch “doop”, meaning a sauce or gravy. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etymology-for-the-straight-dope/707582/8 "2014-12-18T21:57:00Z")
Dope is an old slang term for information. Straight is slang for truth. the true information -\> straight dope I always had the impression it was the blunt truth. No feelings spared. Don’t ask for the straight dope if you can’t handle hearing the truth. Mom, did daddy really die in a car crash? Well, do you want the straight dope? He ran off with two hookers and a bag of weed. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etymology-for-the-straight-dope/707582/9 "2014-12-18T23:59:50Z")
“You can’t HANDLE the Dope!!” ---
**Author:** ![TSBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etymology-for-the-straight-dope/707582/10 "2014-12-19T00:36:00Z")
So whence “doping” in semiconductors? Is the sense that the silicon is adulterated, not pure, as the body is not “pure” when dope is ingested? ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etymology-for-the-straight-dope/707582/11 "2014-12-19T00:59:56Z")
I posted [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10247415&postcount=14) back in 2008 when it was asked previously. > [@samclem](#): > > The OED is still one of the most respected reference sources in the world, as it well should be. Something that mammoth doesn’t update itself overnight. The OED is currently updating around the letter “R” if I’m not mistaken. Most entries that haven’t been updated are from before 1989. That precludes the wonderful world of digital electronic newspaper databases, et al. > > The earliest found cite for “straight dope” meaning the correct information is 11 May 1904 by me. It was in the Anaconda(MT) Standard. > Quote: > The citizens would gladly send her a basket of flowers if she should give out the straight “dope” regarding the whereabouts of the assassin of Cronin. > > Note that “dope” is in quote marks, indicating that it was a rather new word. > > The modifier “straight” was added about this time to the previously used word “dope” which meant information, first appearing in the late 1890s referring to horse racing information, usually inside information. Other uses of “dope” in relation to horse racing at this time included dope sheets, dope book, dope out. In all cases, it referred to information about things, usually horse racing. > > * * * ---
**Author:** ![MikeF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2014, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-etymology-for-the-straight-dope/707582/12 "2014-12-19T18:43:30Z")
Dope is also a product that is applied to fabric on aircraft to tighten, stiffen and weatherproof the fabric. I would assume when applying the dope you would want it to be “straight” or uncontaminated. The good stuff! Not a likely explanation since the stuff wasn’t invented until 1911.