Language changes. I can handle that. In fact, I applaud it. Without English’s dynamic nature, we’d be left without words such as computer or airplane.
That being said, I cannot abide with the perversion of carrot on a stick to carrot and a stick.
Carrot on a stick has a wonderfully nuanced meaning: namely, to offer an ever-unreachable reward to elicit favorable behavior. Parents of small children understand this. “One more bite of broccoli and you can have ice cream. Ok, one more bite. One more …” etc. The idea comes from dangling a carrot tied to the end of a stick in front of a mule. The mule will keep walking forward, trying to get that carrot. Of course, it can’t, because the carrot moves with it.
Carrot and a stick, on the other hand, simply means to reward favorable behavior and discipline unfavorable behavior.This is not a concept in need of an idiom. This is common sense.
Alas, I’m afraid I’ve lost this battle.
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