a new year's eggcorn?

[arguchik]

ok, this is sort of an eggcorn. potentially. but maybe not, because both spellings are offered by the dictionary, which lends some legitimacy to the spelling i think is wrong. in case you're wondering what an "eggcorn" is, look at my friend L's post on the subject; also at the eggcorn database.

i was thinking about the word "straightlaced" this morning. i'm not sure why; it doesn't matter, i just was. anyway, i think it's supposed to be spelled "straitlaced" (dictionary.com gives both spellings, with "straitlaced" as the preferred spelling). straitlaced, as in..."one who lives in a moral straitjacket." you know, a straitjacket, one of those things that laces up the back (henced straitlaced); and for which the dictionary provides the alternate spelling "straightjacket" (again, "straitjacket" is preferred). wiki spells it straitjacket, and provides some nice pictures to illustrate my point.

what's my point again? a straitjacket puts you in straits, i.e. narrow confines; it restricts your movement. it doesn't "straighten" you.

or maybe it does. and that's exactly what an eggcorn is--it is a malaproprism that makes a kind of sense, somehow. like "eggcorn" is an eggcorn for "acorn," which is kind of like the egg of an oak tree, if you think about it long enough.

so my theory is that the word started out as "straitlaced" and became "straightlaced" as the word "straight" acquired the meanings "heterosexual" and "one who doesn't imbibe" or "one who follows the rules." a "straight arrow" who's on the "straight and narrow." or, "a little discipline'll straighten her out." (discipline, like a straitjacket...but that pic of the chik in a black leather straitjacket doesn't exactly inspire straightness, does it? hmmm?)

so my real point is that there's a more interesting question here than simply which spelling is right or wrong. a shift in the spelling of this one silly metaphorical term, "straitlaced," registers a far more significant cultural shift, one to which Michel Foucault devoted most of his career and several books. of straitjackets and straightening...

our language, it's, it's, it's....

NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! IT'S ALIVE!

Comments

[evernanon.livejournal.com]

Yeah, language and how we use it vs. how it's supposed to be is kind of a thorny pickle. Eventually, concessions get made to accommodate the way people spell or use words, phrases, ideas, etc. that may not be technically right, but are so common that they can't be ignored. I personally think that putting a gh in straitlaced is wrong wrong wrong but I think your evolutionary theory is pretty right on.