Get on the Stick

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, Martha. This is Iris Chinook from Cave Junction, Oregon.

So, Iris, what’s on your mind today?

Well, you know, it’s a family thing.

I’m in my 60s, and every once in a while I’ll spout something that I learned when I was a kid,

And I don’t really understand what I’m saying.

One of the phrases is, get on the stick.

And that was used in my family, like,

Kid, you better get on the stick and get out there and mow that lawn, you know.

And then the other one was I had an uncle named Frank who insisted on having every beverage that he drank right off the boil.

I mean, the man would drink it scalding hot, and he would say, and smack his lips and say, piping hot, just like I like it.

So get on the stick, meaning to hurry up or get with it, and piping hot, meaning very, very hot, right?

Correct.

I think we can handle both of these today.

Sure.

Get on the stick has an interesting two-part history.

Most of the reference works say that it comes from the manual drive of an automobile.

You know, you call it the stick.

But, you know, there are two older dialect expressions that I think probably really are the origin of this.

And one of them is just stick, which means your rate of speed going back to the 1830s.

He whirls the coach away at a pretty good stick, meaning a pretty good speed.

And the other one is to cut stick, which means to prepare to leave or to run away or to go quickly away.

There’s a long continuous history of these being used well up to the time of the automobile.

So at least there’s some overlap.

And the other problem I have with that automobile theory is I think that the rise of the stick in the airplanes,

You know, you call that main device in the middle of the cockpit your stick.

I think that also has some influence here.

So the whole idea is to get with the program to put on some speed and maybe back as far as the 1830s.

Yeah, when Uncle Frank was drinking his beverages piping hot, the idea there is that it’s pretty much boiling.

You know, it’s so hot as to make a whistling sound or a hissing sound.

And so it’s piping like pipes.

So as the bubbles burst, as it’s boiling, those bubbles are making the little piping sounds.

Yeah, you know, I thought it had something to do with a kettle, and I thought maybe the spout was a pipe.

And then I went off on a thing where I thought maybe it means like hot water, boiling water, and steam going through pipes.

And I don’t know.

So how fascinating.

You guys are amazing.

Thank you very much.

It’s mostly probably about the piping sound, like an instrument, like a musical instrument, that a kettle makes when it boils.

Well, that makes perfect sense. So now I know. Now everybody else knows, too.

That’s right.

Well, thank you so much. I appreciate that.

Iris, we absolutely love it when people bring things handed down through their families like this.

So thank you for coming and sharing those with us.

Okay, well, I’ll be happy to catch the show.

Thank you. Take care now.

Bye-bye.

I’m reminded of the Japanese broth called shabu-shabu,

Which is named for the sound of it hissing when it’s being cooked.

Oh, that’s lovely.

Shabu, shabu.

Have some shabu, shabu.

Add that to my food list.

Well, in the meantime, give us a call, 877-929-9673,

Or tell us your language story, that thing you got from your family,

In email to words@waywordradio.org.