|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Very interesting point, inselpeter. May depend on whether the phrase "in the sticks" originated before, or after, about 1860.
Until about the late 1850's, settlement of the midwest was largely confined to areas near rivers. On reason was that rivers provided transportation -- but a larger reason was that these were the more forested areas, with wood available to build houses, barns, fences, and so forth. After the late 1850's, the railroad network had developed widely enough to import lumber to much of the prairies, making settlement feasible there.
Edit: For anyone interested in the history and economic forces fueling Chicago's explosive growth during about 1850-1900, when it was easily the world's fastest-growing major city, I highly recommend Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West, by William Cronon. The chapters on the grain, lumber and meat-packing industries are particularly readable, thoughtful and informative. The author has stunning scholarly credentials (Rhodes scholar; MacArthur fellow), and the book won prizes in the field of historical writing.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
to import lumber to much of the prairies, making settlement feasible there.
But what about the sod houses?
Odd to think of this, but Kentucky was mostly prairie a couple of hundred years ago. Some areas have been re-planted with these types of grass seed.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 819 |
Aren't the "[steering] wheels" in all aircraft called "sticks" no matter their ergonomic(?) design?Not to any pilot I've ever known, but then I haven't been a pilot in quite a few years. The term, "yoke" seems to be used commonly, but the inference of forced labor (sub ugum) seems lost on those who use it. As for the phallic interpretation of witches' broomsticks, I suggest that they may be swept away by the ecstacy of flight. 
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
|
|
Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
<<not to any pilot I've ever known, but then I haven't been a pilot in quite a few years.>>
I haven't been a pilot in quite a few years either, and I've never been completely comfortable calling those wheels "sticks," still..
This from online Websters:
: any of various implements resembling a stick in shape, origin, or use: as (1) : COMPOSING STICK (2) : an airplane lever operating the elevators and ailerons
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,400 |
Michael Pollan, in the book Botany of Desire devotes a chapter to marajauna, and suggets that the witches broomsticks and flying was from the use of dildos covered with a mixture of hashish and other botanicals. the mucus memebranes of the vagina would have absorbed many of the chemicals, and even today flying, or higher than a kite, and other phrases are used to describe drugs effects. but i don't think this has anything to do with getting on the stick.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
but i don't think this has anything to do with getting on the stick.au contraire, dear Helen; it suggests a connection that would be most interesting, if valld.  which may be the first time I've blushed on this board!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Nov 2000
Posts: 3,146 |
Oh, well done, Helen. You've managed to tie up Jackie's post about "reseeding" Kentucky nicely with marijuana so that we now have a bluegrass thread. And so, as Kurt Vonnegut would tell us, it goes ... 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872
old hand
|
|
old hand
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 872 |
Ever see a steering wheel on a train? Growing up in Alabama it was of the utmost importance that the gangling young sons of the south understand the meaning and implications of the phrase "Get on the stick". It meant "Get moving! Now! And Fast!" The "stick" we understood to be the lever that gave leverage (sic) to close the valve to increase the pressure of the steam so that steam engines could gain speed. The engineer would lean forward on the heavy lever therefore "getting on the stick".
Please excuse my hasty departure. I wanted to get my post recorded before the quick wits among you did. Now I will go research my resources and uncover substantiation.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 2,605 |
Please excuse my hasty departure. I wanted to get my post recorded ... Now I will go research my resources and uncover substantiation.
Ya gotta love this guy!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613 |
Blue grass: geez, CK! A point for that one! "reseeding" Kentucky nicely with marijuana Hemp actually thrives in KY. Here's a neat link on the history of the plant, and the laws concerning it: http://thehia.org/history/history.htm
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,372
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
381
guests, and
1
robot. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
