Rein vs. Reign and Strait vs. Straight

Have you ever written about being in “dire straights” or giving someone “free reign”? Read on to find out just how wrong you were.

Try to rein in your anarchist tendencies during the tea party.

Rein and Reign

We’re all familiar with a horse’s reins, which keep it from bolting off into the blue. The word rein is used in expressions having to do with control or restraint, such as “rein in” or “keep a tight rein on.” Conversely, giving a horse “free rein” means it can go where it likes—just as a decorator given free (or full) rein may fill your bathroom with gold-plated fixtures and wall-to-wall mirrors.

To reign is to rule; the word comes from the same Latin root that gave us regent and regency. Use reign when you’re talking about domination: reign of terror, reign supreme.

• Try to rein in your anarchist tendencies during the tea party.
• Chaos reigned at the Laus’ house on the night Jenny’s pet rat, Cocoa, escaped.

Strait and Straight

A strait is a narrow passage between two bodies of water, like the Strait of Magellan or the Georgia Strait. Metaphorically, it refers to anything tight or restricting: straitjacket, straitlaced. “Dire straits” could be literally a difficult route to sail between rocky cliffs, or a figurative tight spot. The idea of restriction is also present in “straitened circumstances,” a euphemism for poverty.

Straight means “without deviation”: a straight line, straight up, straight to the point. Straight also implies honesty—no detours from the truth.

• After the bust, Knuckles swore he was going straight.
• Straitlaced men are like catnip to the succubus.

Having said that, some dictionaries list straightjacket and straightlaced as variant spellings, as they’ve become so common. But that’s no reason not to learn the difference, and using the more irreproachable spelling will earn you points from straitlaced grammarphiles.

Straitlaced men are like catnip to the succubus.

Trooper vs. Trouper

Star Wars has storm troopers; ABBA sings about being a “super trouper.” Which spelling is correct?

Troopers and troupers

Trooper and trouper are homonyms—spell-check-confounding words that sound the same but have different meanings. Both words relate to groups, but their connotations are worlds apart.

A trouper is someone who keeps going under difficult circumstances without complaint. The word comes from a theatre troupe and suggests someone who plasters on a smile and declares, “The show must go on!” It also connotes group coherence, putting the good of the show above one performer’s ego.

• Everything that could go wrong during the balloon expedition, did—short of fatal accident—but Zahra was a real trouper, helping the pilot spill the ballast and keeping the passengers’ spirits up with a rousing singalong.

Everything that could go wrong during the balloon expedition, did.

A trooper is a member of a military troop, someone you might look to for colourful curses but not so much for cheerful smiles and a helpful attitude. The same root gives us a crowd of people trooping from one place to another, that is, moving together in the same direction, as in a military march.

• Get enough sherry into the Lady Dowager and she starts swearing like a trooper and goosing footmen with her cane.

So Star Wars and ABBA are both right. (Shame on you for doubting George Lucas or the Swedes!) When you’re unsure which spelling to use, remember troopers go to war and troupers go on stage: one swears and one smiles.


Disclaimer: According to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, trooper has been used so often instead of trouper to mean “a resilient, hard-working, reliable, or uncomplaining person” that this spelling has become acceptable. So go ahead and use it, if you must. But isn't it nice to know the difference?