On Sat, 26 Feb, 2005 at 10:51AM +1030, luke@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx spake thus: > Hi, > > 25Feb2005 @ 09:08 Wolfgang Woehl thusly spake > > This is from Lamont Dozier's "Fish ain't bitin'" (1973) Can someone > > explain the expression "The short is off the stick"? Thanks. > > > > And meanwhile in DC > > Tricky Dick is trying to be slick > > And the short is off the stick > > Because I'm gonna get it > > Tricky Dick, please quit > > You might be familiar with the expression: "getting the short end of the stick", which means you don't have the power, or you are subject someone else's overriding power (they have the long end of the stick). The short is off the stick is probably a way of saying "we are no longer subject to that overriding power, perhaps referring to the (misplaced) power of tricky dick. Hmm. I've never heard of the short end of the stick. I've heard of the wrong end of the stick, and the short straw, but this one's new to me. Maybe it's an American phrase. The most similar expression I can think of over here is getting the sh*tty end of the stick. I've just noticed that this post has absolutely nothing useful in it, but I'm about to press send anyway. James > that's my first line of interpretation, > kind regards, > Luke > -- "I'd crawl over an acre of 'Visual This++' and 'Integrated Development That' to get to gcc, Emacs, and gdb. Thank you." (By Vance Petree, Virginia Power)
