SPELL CHECK

The phrases that follow may be familiar, but when it comes to spelling them you may be in dire straights - or is it straits? In the list below, seemingly logical explanations are given for two spellings of common phrases. Which is correct?

1.
a) PRAYING MANTIS - because its "arms" resemble those of a person praying
b) PREYING MANTIS - becuase it's both carnivorous and voracious

2.
a) GIVE FREE REIGN TO - because "reign" means control
b) GIVE FREE REIN TO - by analogy to riding a horse

3.
a) RAISE CANE - because of the familiar image of an angry person waving a cane
b) RAISE CAIN - referring to the first murder in the Bible

4.
a) WRACK ONE'S BRAINS - because hard thinking was once thought to destroy or "wrack" brain cells
b) RACK ONE'S BRAINS - because hard thinking "stretches" the mind, as a body on a rack

5.
a) JUST DESSERTS - by sarcastic reference to "desserts" as a reward
b) JUST DESERTS - because "desert" in this context means "something deserved"

6.
a) DIRE STRAITS - because a "tight spot" is analogous to a "strait," i.e. a narrow channel
b) DIRE STRAIGHTS - by reference to frantic finishes in the "straights" of a horseracing track

7.
a) RIGHT OF PASSAGE - as in right of way
b) RITE OF PASSAGE - as in ritual or ordeal

Answers:

1. (a) praying mantis
2. (b) give free rein to
3. (b) raise Cain
4. (b) rack one's brains
5. (b) just deserts
6. (a) dire straits
7. (b) rite of passage

Credit: GAMES Magazine - July/Aug 1982
R.W.S.
NO KIDDING - The Well-Spelled Phrase