meaning - "Strait-laced" or "straight-laced"


Why do strait-laced and straight-laced have the same meaning when strait and straight have different meanings?



Answer



While I agree with kiamlaluno on the matter of pronunciation leading to confusion, I believe that the order is reversed: strait-laced is the correct version, and people who don't realize that strait is the appropriate spelling hear the word spoken and spell it the "normal" way; the word "straight" is much more common these days than "strait."


Checking etymonline.com shows that "strait-laced" dates from the 1550s, and was used to refer to bodices and stays, meaning that the woman's clothing in question was very tightly bound and allowed little to no freedom of motion: it was laced in a strait fashion (strait = narrow, constricted, tight, limited, or strict). Extrapolating from that definition to behavior in general would be a fairly small step.


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