How ’Straight’ Has Developed Its Meanings －Based on a metaphysical theory

Hiroshima Institute of Technology, Faculty of Applied Information Science, 2-1-1 Miyake,Saeki-ku,Hiroshima, Japan

^* Corresponding author: kosuke-nakashima@outlook.jp

Abstract

This paper makes the development of the word ’straight’ clear. Dictionaries define ’straight’ as; ‘without a curve or bend’, ‘going direct to the target’, ‘honest’, ‘in continuous succession’ or ‘neat’. As can be seen, ’straight’ has a variety of meanings. Some connections between these meanings can be guessed but others cannot. The mechanism of how ’straight’ has obtained each meaning will be explained logically in this paper. First, the most basic or central meaning of ’straight’ is ‘without a curve or bend’. So ’straight’ modifies the verb ’stand’ like the following: He stood up straight. ’Straight’ has a strong conceptual connection with a standing posture. At the present time, ’straight’ is the normal posture for human beings. This means ’straight’ has a concept for ‘normal’ for human beings like the following: He grew up straight. This sentence does not mean that his posture is straight up. It means that he grew up honest. ’Straight’ gives a normal image to English speakers both physically and metaphysically. Like an example above, this paper explains how ’straight’ has developed its meanings through the human beings’ way of thinking. And some comparisons between English expressions and Japanese ones, which is the author’s mother tongue, are made in this paper as well.