Explain put a sitck in the ground

[chibe_k]

Very helpful of you Casiopea. Thanks again !

[Casiopea]

You're most welcome.

If you find out what "put a stick in the ground" means, let us know.

[BobK]

As a rather facetious aside, whenever I see the title of this thread I think of someone putting a piece of Sitka spruce into the ground.

b

[Casiopea]

To me it's more like a stake, the kind you use to mark a boundary, as in staking a land claim.

I wonder what others think.

[pedant]

well...I'm utterly amazed that so many of you don't know what this means.

"to put a stick in the ground" is directly equivalent to "staking your claim".

This originated in the gold rush in the continent which is now commonly called the USA, during the short period of time when all land was declared 'open to be claimed'.

A simple stick pushed into the ground, with a note on it to say who you were was all that was required in order to prove that you had claim over that bit of territory. When the first stick went in, the radius of land you could see was yours, the more sticks you could stick in and tie together, the more land became yours. Naturally arguments arose between neighbours (and they've never stopped).

Obviously the big 'land grab' as it was called then wasn't the first time a stick was used like this. It goes back as far as mankind itself, right back to the first time a human decided to stop wandering around and stay in once place instead.

More recently, the phrase has expanded into more than just a land possession marker, and now means: "this is mine...I own it, or this is my idea...I'm staying here" - this can equally apply to physical land, property, or to any concept which one is prepared to defend.

The bottom line is "Mine! Not moving!"

[Casiopea]

Excellent.