# Evelyn Waugh's 'Scoop' **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 22, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evelyn-waughs-scoop/486945 "2009-02-22T15:51:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RobinPilot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3be4f8/32.png) [@RobinPilot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobinPilot)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evelyn-waughs-scoop/486945/1 "2009-02-22T15:51:38Z")
Can anyone[SIZE=“4”][/SIZE], journalist or otherwise, please explain the joke about “cleft sticks” in Evelyn Waugh’s novel,\* Scoop\*? ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evelyn-waughs-scoop/486945/2 "2009-02-22T17:42:42Z")
I haven’t read this book for some time so I am relying more than somewhat on memory. Any joke about cleft sticks revolves around a play on the two meanings of the expression. Originally, a cleft stick was a piece of wood with a ‘Y’ shaped end into which a message, or later a piece of newspaper copy, could be inserted for ease of carrying by a messenger. In time, to be in a cleft stick came to mean finding oneself in a situation where difficult choices present themselves. It’s not unlike being in a quandary, or on the horns of a dilemma. When Lord Copper suggests that Boot should take some cleft sticks with him to Abyssinia, he is implying that his correspondent might encounter some problems. As I recall, Boot does take some actual wooden cleft sticks with him. Whether such implements were in reality still in use at the time of his Abyssinian adventure, I really cannot say. ---
**Author:** ![moyraanne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@moyraanne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moyraanne)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evelyn-waughs-scoop/486945/3 "2015-01-25T21:44:19Z")
Thank you so much, Chez Guevara, I’ve wondered about this for 50 years! As a foreign correspondent in the days before the internet, the mechanics of getting copy to editors was always a challenge, though a lot easier than in Boot’s day. We had telex, dictating over the phone copy-takers, then, in the 80’s using a Tandy computer with acoustic couplers - weird rubber cup-like things that you wedged onto a phone receiver. All pretty cumbersome though, compared to the internet. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2015, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evelyn-waughs-scoop/486945/4 "2015-01-25T22:20:49Z")
How dare you insult the TRS-80 Model 100 like that! Flintlocks at dawn! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Cunctator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/43a26b/32.png) [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2015, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evelyn-waughs-scoop/486945/5 "2015-01-26T08:29:11Z")
> [@Chez\_Guevara](#): > > Any joke about cleft sticks revolves around a play on the two meanings of the expression. Originally, a cleft stick was a piece of wood with a ‘Y’ shaped end into which a message, or later a piece of newspaper copy, could be inserted for ease of carrying by a messenger. In time, to be in a cleft stick came to mean finding oneself in a situation where difficult choices present themselves. It’s not unlike being in a quandary, or on the horns of a dilemma. > > When Lord Copper suggests that Boot should take some cleft sticks with him to Abyssinia, he is implying that his correspondent might encounter some problems. I’ve never read any deeper message into that passage. I’ve always just thought it was a comment on how stupid and gullible Lord Copper is. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2023, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evelyn-waughs-scoop/486945/6 "2023-12-02T18:22:03Z")
Split this topic on December 2, 2023, 6:22pm UTC 2 posts were merged into an existing topic: [Megburns Troll posts](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/megburns-troll-posts/994020/8) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2023, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evelyn-waughs-scoop/486945/7 "2023-11-02T17:51:43Z")
“Up to a point, Lord Copper” is of relevance here. He doesn’t really know much more than Boot about Africa or how his journalists work, but no-one dares contradict him.