# What does it mean to give someone stick? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 9, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-give-someone-stick/356064 "2006-05-09T14:50:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-give-someone-stick/356064/1 "2006-05-09T14:50:19Z")
I think it’s a British-ism, but I’m not sure if it means to give him grief, or to cut hm some slack. Either could apply to the present situation, and I’m wondering what I’m being asked to do, go harder or go softer on someone. Anyone familiar with the expression? ---
**Author:** ![Szlater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@Szlater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Szlater)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-give-someone-stick/356064/2 "2006-05-09T15:04:37Z")
If you’re giving me stick, then I won’t be too happy because you’ll be making my life harder or giving me grief. It’s usually used in reference to someone else’s poor performance. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-give-someone-stick/356064/3 "2006-05-09T15:08:45Z")
Related to “the carrot and the stick”, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-give-someone-stick/356064/4 "2006-05-09T15:11:13Z")
Yeah, it’s used in my part of the world too. It just means to verbaly upbraid, lecture, or repremand somebody. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but I think there’s also a sense of being let off lightly. For example, a traffic cop lecturing you then letting you go without a fine could be said to have ‘given you some stick’. Copping the fine wouldn’t count as having been given stick. It’s what you do to naughty kids without smacking them on the bum/ sending them to their room / grounding them / etc. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-give-someone-stick/356064/5 "2006-05-09T15:44:01Z")
Surely the image is to taking a stick to a slow mule, to make him go faster, or perhaps a naughty child, to punish bad behavior. It certainly means to go harder on someone, not to cut them some slack. I heard it fairly often when I lived in NZ. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2006, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-give-someone-stick/356064/6 "2006-05-09T20:12:59Z")
Francis Urquhart, the conniving British politician in the wonderful _House of Cards_ series, often talked about “putting the stick about,” which, in context, seemed to imply forcing people to be responsive to his demands. Are they related phrases? ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-give-someone-stick/356064/7 "2006-05-10T00:56:34Z")
Maybe it’s a confusion between stick and shtick? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-give-someone-stick/356064/8 "2006-05-10T01:05:44Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > Maybe it’s a confusion between stick and shtick? How so? Do you think **prr** is being asked to do a comedy routine for the person in question? ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-give-someone-stick/356064/9 "2006-05-10T01:15:50Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Surely the image is to taking a stick to a slow mule, to make him go faster, or perhaps a naughty child, to punish bad behavior. It certainly means to go harder on someone, not to cut them some slack. > > I heard it fairly often when I lived in NZ. I’m with you on this. I think the etymology is pretty obvious and can be taken at face value. Somebody wants to impress their disagreement upon you? They use a stick. Simple. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-give-someone-stick/356064/10 "2006-05-10T01:17:48Z")
However, the cutting slack part I’m not so much in agreement with. I do believe it’s the case. I think ‘being given some stick’ is usually an unpleasant experience, but one which escapes full punishment. At least that’s how I’ve usually heard it. Being sent to jail isn’t ‘being given some stick.’ ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-give-someone-stick/356064/11 "2006-05-10T01:27:11Z")
> [@TheLoadedDog](#): > > However, the cutting slack part I’m not so much in agreement with. I do believe it’s the case. I think ‘being given some stick’ is usually an unpleasant experience, but one which escapes full punishment. At least that’s how I’ve usually heard it. Being sent to jail isn’t ‘being given some stick.’ Maybe. But in the context of the OP, it seems to definitely mean to give someone a hard(er) time than they’re currently getting. If a cop _were_ giving someone a ticket, you wouldn’t say “give him some stick” to get him to be more lenient. ---
**Author:** ![Celyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9dc877/32.png) [@Celyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Celyn)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-give-someone-stick/356064/12 "2006-05-10T01:51:44Z")
> [@pseudotriton ruber ruber](#): > > I think it’s a British-ism, but I’m not sure if it means to give him grief, or to cut hm some slack. … The former. Give him stick = give him a telling off, give him some hassle, etc ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-give-someone-stick/356064/13 "2006-05-10T09:20:43Z")
Actually, I would have said “giving him stick” would imply unwarranted or unearned complaints. So if I were to make some mistake, and was reprimanded for it, that wouldn’t count. But if someone were to keep causing me grief after i’d paid the price for my mistake, that would be giving me stick - uneeded criticism. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-give-someone-stick/356064/14 "2006-05-10T09:30:20Z")
Hubby has occasionally used “give it some stick” to mean “wade into it/ go harder”, so that lines up more with the “giving someone a hard time” interpretation IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2006, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-it-mean-to-give-someone-stick/356064/15 "2006-05-10T12:41:57Z")
I tend to use it in a teasing or ribbing context - if you’re playing football and someone misses a sitter, you’d give him stick about it for weeks to come. More good-natured than aggressive IME Grim