# Carrying sticks. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 8, 2008, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrying-sticks/459245 "2008-08-08T00:46:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrying-sticks/459245/21 "2008-08-08T19:31:22Z")
[QUOTE=myrnajean] Perhaps to pole-vault out of the way? eiyyeeeeeeee!!! [/QUOTE] Of course the risk would be that you just land on another snake. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrying-sticks/459245/22 "2008-08-08T20:08:08Z")
[QUOTE=indian] These sticks are used to control cattle when they are taken for grazing in forests and grass lands etc.. [/QUOTE] When I was at Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, I had the pleasure of actually going out the front gate to wait for some deliveries, where I got to meet some of the local fellows, including the Afghan National Army guys that were “directing” traffic into our one-lane entry road. There was one ANA in particular who had such a stick, and apparently was employed to herd the gaggles of children running amok out front. This guy would holler a sting of something at the kids (presumably “Get the hell out of the way you damned rapscallion scalawags!” in Pashtu or Farsi), point, and _swat the bajeezus_ out of 'em. I was all giddied-up in body armor, and _hurt me_ just to watch it. :eek: Tripler . . . and I would have gotten my deliveries that day too, if it weren’t fer them meddling kids. ---
**Author:** ![Caveat\_lector\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@Caveat\_lector\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caveat_lector_1)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrying-sticks/459245/23 "2008-08-08T20:22:41Z")
I was walking through the woods a couple of days ago and I picked up a stick which I then proceeded to use for the following: poking ground to see how mushy it was, swinging in front of me when walking though thick ferns so as to (hopefully) scare off or find any snakes I couldn’t see, helping me keep my balance when crossing streams on rocks, and helping me stay upright while climbing steep rises that I’d otherwise have had to crawl up. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrying-sticks/459245/24 "2008-08-08T20:46:10Z")
I knew an old dude who carved portraits of people on canes. They were beautiful, semi-caricature in full 3-D. If he liked you, he’d make one from memory and give it to you later. Otherwise, he sold them. Funny I’d forgotten him till just now. An old gf stole mine. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrying-sticks/459245/25 "2008-08-08T21:18:49Z")
[QUOTE=mangeorge] I knew an old dude who carved portraits of people on canes. They were beautiful, semi-caricature in full 3-D. If he liked you, he’d make one from memory and give it to you later. Otherwise, he sold them. Funny I’d forgotten him till just now. An old gf stole mine. ☹ [/QUOTE] That is seriously cool. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Belrix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed655f/32.png) [@Belrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belrix)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrying-sticks/459245/26 "2008-08-08T21:38:11Z")
[QUOTE=Sigmagirl] We have a neighbor who walks with a stick. He uses it to herd his desert tortoise, which takes a daily walk around the block. You don’t want Tank out in the street, now. [/QUOTE] Umm. Not to hijack too much but… Walk your tortoise? Just how long does it take to walk a tortoise around a block? ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrying-sticks/459245/27 "2008-08-08T21:39:52Z")
[QUOTE=Belrix] Umm. Not to hijack too much but… Walk your tortoise? Just how long does it take to walk a tortoise around a block? [/QUOTE] Depends on how much you hit him with the stick. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JSexton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@JSexton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JSexton)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2008, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrying-sticks/459245/28 "2008-08-08T23:08:37Z")
[QUOTE=Belrix] Umm. Not to hijack too much but… Walk your tortoise? Just how long does it take to walk a tortoise around a block? [/QUOTE] It helps if an eagle comes by. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2008, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrying-sticks/459245/29 "2008-08-09T00:19:48Z")
And [this](http://hometown.aol.com/peebie3/page3.html) came up. Cool, huh? It can’t be the same guy, he’d be way over 100 by now. I gotta go look some more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/carrying-sticks/459245.md?page=1)