The quick answer is that straight-laced and strait-laced are now both generally accepted as correct.
However, if you are a language purist, most dictionaries and style guides agree that strait-laced is the original and correct form.
The meaning of both forms is the same: that someone is strict in manners, morals, or opinions or has old-fashioned and unchanging ethical values.
It’s not an expression you would likely use very often, but it’s interesting all the same.
The origins and meaning
The word strait refers to something being narrow, tight, or restricted.
It comes from the meaning which is related to confinement or strictness,
The word strait in geography is a narrow, constricted passage of water, like the Strait of Gibraltar.
It also describes a situation with a specified degree of trouble or difficulty, such as dire straits.
Laced refers to something being tightly bound, such as the laces on a corset.
Historically, corsets were tightly laced to restrict and shape the body, symbolizing restraint and control.
The expression figuratively means that behavior or morals are tightly controlled or restricted, similar to how laces restrict movement.
The combination of strait and laced gives the overall impression of someone who is bound by strict rules, leaving little room for looseness or relaxation in their conduct.
However, the word straight, which means one direction only or without a curve or bend, doesn’t hold exactly the same meaning.
Nevertheless, it has become accepted due to its frequent use in print and literature.
Acceptable usage
Both expressions are generally accepted as correct.
In fact, the Oxford Dictionary says that the spelling straight-laced is more common than strait-laced in the Oxford English Corpus.
Major newspapers are a good guide regarding usage and seem to use both forms.
Here are two examples each from The New York Times and The Guardian.
Singapore was once known as an affluent and strait-laced city-state. Source
If a young female performer with a relatively straight-laced image wants to take full charge of her brightest future, she apparently has to do some time on the pole. Source
It signals a move away from my upbringing, where all the men had straight hair and were strait-laced. Source
Jean Paul Gaultier, will be back on the airwaves for one night only, to remind their “straight-laced British chums” of the “many, varied and occasionally alarming cultural delights enjoyed by our European cousins. Source
I found many more examples, so it is pretty clear that both forms are acceptable now.
Another way to look at the usage of the expression is with Google’s Ngram viewer.
As you can see, it’s a bit neck and neck, with both forms in frequent use.
But it’s interesting that strait is increasing, while straight is falling away slightly.
The other observation is that strait-laced has been in moderate use for almost 200 years. However, both forms have increased in use considerably since 2000.
Is the hyphen necessary?
In a similar vein, the word straitjacket comes from this sense of restriction or bound.
Straightjacket is also a correct spelling variation.
But why is it one word and not hyphenated?
It’s because straitjacket is a compound noun, whereas strait-laced is a compound adjective.
Compound nouns like lunchtime, smartphone, and greenhouse never have a hyphen.
However, compound adjectives such as well-known, old-fashioned, and long-term always need a hyphen.
That’s why straightlaced and straitlaced, or straight laced and strait laced are incorrect.
Summary
As usual, when I decide to write about confusing words, it’s because I noticed something while reading.
In this case, it was the use of straight instead of strait in this expression.
Other expressions, such as one fell swoop, bare my soul or hazard a guess, have a right and wrong form.
But with this one, you can choose.
My preference is to stick with strait because it’s the original form. It also pops the 80s group Dire Straits into my mind.
But you can choose. Straight or strait will say the same thing, and most readers won’t see it as an error.
Related Reading: Poured and Pored: Don’t Make A Poor Word Choice
