# What the heck is a "Straight Dope" anyway?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-straight-dope-anyway/36247>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 9, 2000, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-straight-dope-anyway/36247 "2000-10-09T12:39:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![MadHatter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@MadHatter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadHatter)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-straight-dope-anyway/36247/1 "2000-10-09T12:39:45Z")

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Where does the term come from?

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**Author:** ![epeepunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f19dbf/32.png) [@epeepunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epeepunk)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-straight-dope-anyway/36247/2 "2000-10-09T13:54:42Z")

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Did a Google search and found this [http://home.t-online.de/home/toni.goeller/idiom\_wm/idioms551.html#the](http://home.t-online.de/home/toni.goeller/idiom_wm/idioms551.html#the) straight dope BTW this looks like a great site.

Basically an extension of dope, which means to think about something (“doping something out”) which I recall reading in older books but not as much now.

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2000, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-heck-is-a-straight-dope-anyway/36247/3 "2000-10-09T15:18:02Z")

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It’s a stupid person who sets up punch lines …