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Straight As A Die ?

Posted by R. Berg on February 01, 2001

In Reply to: Straight As A Die ? posted by Scott Marsden on February 01, 2001

: : Meaning what ?

: : I presume some people have bastardised this saying using DICE instead of die ..

: : .. is this to do with engineering ..

: Actually, "die" in this case doesn't refer to gaming cubes (dice, in the plural) at all. It refers to pieces used in manufacturing for cutting, stamping, or forming material (usually metal). These things tend to be big, heavy, metal items and their straight edges tend to remain that way.

The die that is one member of a pair of dice* has to be straight-not weighted-in order to work properly, too.

*As Ambrose Bierce noted in "The Devil's Dictionary," "die" is "the singular of 'dice.' We seldom hear the word, because there is a prohibitory proverb, 'Never say die.' At long intervals, however, some one says: 'The die is cast,' which is not true, for it is cut."

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