The Carrot On a Stick
We hear this idiom all the time nowadays. "The Carrot and the Stick." The carrot symbolizes what we will give to an opponent to entice them to deal with us. The stick represents the force we will apply to get them to deal with us. I just got done reading a article in The Weekly Standard which said that our dealings with Iran have been all carrot and no stick.
For crying out loud, doesn’t anybody remember what this idiom is really about? It’s about a donkey tied to a mill, walking around in a cirlce for hours and hours trying to get a carrot that is tied to a stick which is tied to his head. The "Carrot ON A Stick" idiom used to be all about unfulfilled promises; tantalization, bait and switch. When someone said "it was the old Carrot on a Stick" routine they meant that there was an prize that kept moving away from you.
But somehow it all got changed. I don’t know when, and I don’t know how. Some illiterate reporter or some dopey journalist changed the word ON to the word AND, and this odd notion of enticement vs force replaced the original. Whoever it was, they apparently confused the Carrot and Stick immage with the term "Walk softly but carry a big stick". It’s easy to see why they got confused since they both use the term "Stick".
The misuse of this idiom bothers me almost as much as the word "irregardless".
(sigh).
Another one along those lines is “mano a mano”. Spanish for “hand to hand” as in combat, it got changed to “man to man” as in a discussion between grownups. Drives me nuts when I hear it in a business environment used that way.
Comment by Aaron — July 19, 2006 @ 9:20 pm
These comments have been invaluable to me as is this whole site. I thank you for your comment.
Comment by Annerose — June 4, 2007 @ 1:32 pm