'grab the wrong end of the stick"

[Baker, John]

        This account is provided in the Household Monthly, at 160, Nov.
1858 (Google Books):

        <<The Wrong End of the Stick.--In the Court-Baron annually held
at Fiskerton, a village near Lincoln, when land is passed to a new
tenant, the steward takes hold of the end of a staff and the tenant hold
of the other.  Hence, in case of a bad bargain, comes the proverb, "He
has got hold of the wrong end of the stick.">>

        I don't know if there's any other evidence to support this
supposed origin.  Google Books has a usage from 1810 by Tobias Smollett,
so the phrase clearly had been around for a while in 1858.


John Baker



-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
Of Joel S. Berson
Sent: Tuesday, July 07, 2009 11:44 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: 'grab the wrong end of the stick"

What is the origin of the phrase "grab the wrong end of the stick"?

Joel

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