Strack

[Douglas G. Wilson]

Here is a word which is missing from my dictionaries. I suppose it is slang
or jargon or both. I think anybody who was in the US military in recent
decades (that's a lot of people) would recognize this adjective. I'm not
sure there's an exact synonym. I don't know what the etymology is: perhaps
an alteration of "strict" to rhyme with its antonym "slack"? This refers to
a person or unit exhibiting good discipline and high standards of dress
etc.: immaculately shined boots, immaculately bloused trousers, never a
sloppy salute, etc. ... at least as I understand it (I'm not a very strack
person myself). One can see a few examples by googling with "strack
outfit", "strack troops", etc.

-- Doug Wilson