Meaning:
To get the short end of the stick is to come off worst in a bargain or contest.
Background:
The expression `the ... end of the stick' comes in many forms. The majority
of these refer to getting the worse or, occasionally, the better part of a
bargain. They inserted adjectives which indicate the bad outcome are `short',
`crappy' or `blunt` (or their synonyms or antonyms). There is also the phrase
`getting the wrong end of the stick', which has a different meaning, that is,
`having the facts wrong' or simply `being mistaken'.
Taking the occurrence of these in search engines as a guide, the four forms
rank in popularity of current usage like this:
1. Short/shorter/long.
2. Wrong/rough/right.
3. Shit/shitty/dirty/crap/crappy.
4. Butt/blunt/pointy/pointed/thick.
Both meanings of the phrase, that is, bad bargain or wrong facts, originated
with a negative connotation. The `long end of the stick' and `right end of
the stick' were coined later as simple opposites of their respective original
form.
...
`The short end of the stick' is by far the most commonly used form of the
phrase. That is rather odd, in that the ends of sticks can be dirty or
pointy, they can even be iridescent or hirsute, but it is difficult to see
how they can be short. This has spawned the suggestion that `short' is simply
a euphemism for `shit' - after all sticks can be shitty and that form of the
phrase is also commonplace.
...
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In our nation's proud 5000-year history of great dynasties, rising and falling,
it was always the common folks who got the short end of the stick. The evil
feudal past, I was taught in school. I had since led a charmed life and rarely
thought outside my bubble.
Yesterday, I was shocked to read* that the government, after decades of
miraculous economic boom on the back of generations of Chinese labor, upped the
minimal monthly pension by 20RMB to 163RMB (about 22USD). Well, this is it, I
thought, the crappy end of the stick and it's not just the evil past after all.
* `The Tsunami Is Coming': China's Global Exports Are Just Getting Started --
New York Times (Apr 8)
