Grex Agora47 Conference

Item 38: To be a stick

Entered by polygon on Sun Sep 28 03:00:33 2003:

Question.

What does it mean to call a person a "stick"?

If someone says "Ralph is a stick," does it mean "Ralph is very thin,"
or "Ralph is stiff and emotionally undemonstrative"?  Or something else
entirely?
31 responses total.
#1 of 31 by gelinas on Sun Sep 28 03:13:44 2003:

I think it's a mispronounciation of "stitch", which usually means someone who
is funny (perhaps from "a sharp spasm of pain in the side resulting from
running", which can also be induced by laughter).

#2 of 31 by drew on Sun Sep 28 03:45:29 2003:

"Stick in the mud" would fit the second option in #0.

#3 of 31 by other on Sun Sep 28 05:26:54 2003:

I would think that #2 has the more likely answer.  "Stick in the mud" is 
an old and well-known phrase, so its truncation to "stick" is not a 
stretch of the imagination at all.

#4 of 31 by jaklumen on Sun Sep 28 07:40:55 2003:

Yes, that's what I was thinking.

#5 of 31 by murph on Sun Sep 28 13:29:01 2003:

I think it could mean the first option also.  I've called my scrawny brother
a stick before.  (may have been "stick boy", more precisely...)

See also "Twiggy", referring both to a super-skinny model and, now, to a
store that sells clothing for super-skinny females.  "Twig" is very much
like "stick".

#6 of 31 by cmcgee on Sun Sep 28 13:40:26 2003:

I heard that used about a very uptight, rules-following person. Stiff,
unyielding personality.  Which would fit well with the use stick-in-the-mud.

#7 of 31 by tod on Sun Sep 28 13:54:17 2003:

This response has been erased.


#8 of 31 by polygon on Sun Sep 28 15:46:21 2003:

I can see how the phrase might have evolved, but "stick-in-the-mud" is
pretty negative, and I am positive that I remember "stick" being used
fondly more often than not.

#9 of 31 by gelinas on Sun Sep 28 16:27:35 2003:

Which was the impetus of #1. ;)

#10 of 31 by rcurl on Sun Sep 28 20:42:52 2003:

A dictionary might help here. From OED:

b.  A `wooden' person; one lacking in capacity for his work, or in geniality
of manner; Theatr. an indifferent actor.

c.  U.S. slang. = shill sb.

b.  A group of parachutists jumping in quick succession.

a. slang, a pick-pocket's accomplice (cf. stick slinger); 

b. U.S. colloq., a croupier; 

4.  Cricket. A batsman who remains a long time at the wicket, one not easily
`got out'.

Seems like a versatile word - can mean almost anything you want.

#11 of 31 by dah on Sun Sep 28 20:54:52 2003:

I wish I had a copy of the OED.

#12 of 31 by happyboy on Sun Sep 28 22:31:30 2003:

i wish i has a greasy backbacon sannidge.

#13 of 31 by rcurl on Mon Sep 29 00:22:39 2003:

OED is online at http://ets.umdl.umich.edu/o/oed/

#14 of 31 by dah on Mon Sep 29 00:29:04 2003:

That's only for people with accounts, and I'm not one of them!
aha.

#15 of 31 by rcurl on Mon Sep 29 06:45:46 2003:

?? No account is required to access OED online.

#16 of 31 by scott on Mon Sep 29 12:35:23 2003:

("dah" and a few others are all really polytarp, Rane.  You're being trolled)

#17 of 31 by mynxcat on Mon Sep 29 13:53:41 2003:

dah is polytarp. asddsa is naftee. Two entirely different people.

#18 of 31 by aruba on Mon Sep 29 15:09:44 2003:

Rane, I think you do need a umich login to access that site.  Yours is
probably stored in a cookie on your machine, so that you don't have to enter
it every time.

#19 of 31 by gelinas on Mon Sep 29 16:37:11 2003:

(I think Mark may be right.  Try to getting to it usinng lynx here.)

#20 of 31 by rcurl on Mon Sep 29 18:22:19 2003:

Yes, you are right. My access is through that umich domain. I had
completely forgotten that. (It doesn't use a cookie, though: my cookie
files are empty and locked - it is using just my umich login.)

#21 of 31 by dah on Mon Sep 29 18:40:49 2003:

ahah,a BUT STILL YOU HAVER BEEN TROLLED BUT THIS TIME BY SCOTT HELMKE!  GOOD
TROLL< SCOTT.

#22 of 31 by rcurl on Mon Sep 29 18:56:40 2003:

The subject is "stick".

#23 of 31 by other on Mon Sep 29 20:55:38 2003:

All of us Lower Peninsula Michiganians are trolls.  We live below the 
bridge.

#24 of 31 by jaklumen on Tue Sep 30 01:30:28 2003:

I still say battle of the trollies, baby.

#25 of 31 by asddsa on Thu Oct 2 23:25:24 2003:

re 17 Entirely.

#26 of 31 by rcurl on Fri Oct 3 20:58:40 2003:

Re #35: I think mdw is doing a sort of double "after the fact". Even after
the fact it seems to me that it was something totally natural to consider
before the fact. After all, what were all the thermocouples in the wings
for? If an out of temperature excursion occurred, which did occur, what
was the point of knowing that? To be able to follow the disintegration of
the shuttle more accurately? The point of detecting trouble is to do
something about it. I can't imagine the engineers and managers didn't know
that.

#27 of 31 by mdw on Sat Oct 4 05:45:19 2003:

Some of that instrumentation isn't there for the safety of the people
onboard.  It's there so we can tell what happened after the thing goes
"boom".

We do it with airplanes too.  The "black boxes" (which are usually
bright orange) don't do a thing to protect the passengers onboard.

#28 of 31 by other on Sat Oct 4 07:30:01 2003:

Collectively, however, the "black boxes" protect all commercial aircraft 
passengers by providing information essential to the improvement of 
flight safety.

#29 of 31 by tsty on Sat Oct 4 08:53:00 2003:

.... protect all FUTURE commercial aircraft ....

#30 of 31 by scott on Sat Oct 4 13:00:25 2003:

Protect all commercial aircraft at least as far as flaws can be corrected.
The boxes protect all future passengers as unfixable aircraft should/would
be grounded.

#31 of 31 by willcome on Thu Nov 27 07:46:00 2003:

I think we should have air-marshals on all flights with WHOREs for passengers.

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