ugly stick

English

WOTD – 27 May 2022

Etymology

A homemade ugly stick (sense 1) in Newfoundland, Canada.

From ugly +‎ stick.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʌɡli ˌstɪk/
• Hyphenation: ug‧ly stick

Noun

ugly stick (plural ugly sticks)

1. (Canada, music) A traditional Newfoundland musical instrument fashioned from household and toolshed items, typically a mop handle attached with bottle caps, small bells, tin cans, etc., which are struck with a drumstick while one end of the handle is hit against the floor.

   Coordinate terms: boozaphone, jingling Johnny, lagerphone, mendoza, mendozer, monkey stick

   • 1988 June 17, Stephen Day, “Folk Music Revived at Bridgett’s”, in The Muse, volume 38, number 23, St. John’s, N.L.: Council of the Students Union, Memorial University of Newfoundland, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 7, column 4:

     You may also find an authentic ugly stick. It's masterfully constructed with beer stoppers, duct tape, a tobacco can, and a few pieces of wood. It just is…

   • 2010, Penny Draper, “Bella”, in Laura Peetoom, editor, A Terrible Roar of Water (Disaster Strikes; 5), Regina, Sask.: Coteau Books, →ISBN, page 57:

     Nobody's invited; everybody just comes. And there's no real planning, because the folks that come bring food and music with them. There are fiddles and squeezeboxes and ugly sticks and sometimes even drums to make the music.

   • 2011 December, Annie Rosalind McEwen, quoting Doug Dunne, “The Concert”, in “There Was More Strength in Singing”: Community, Identity, and the Performance of Memory in the Folk of the Sea Choir, 1994–2000 (unpublished Master of Arts thesis)‎^[1], St. John’s, N.L.: Department of Folklore, Memorial University of Newfoundland, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 June 2020, pages 64–65:

     A lot of you know what it is. It's an ugly stick. And you can see why. [laughter] Anyway, basically what it is is an old mop, or a new one if you're playing at the Arts and Culture Centre [prolonged laughter and clapping.] And it's an old juice can with some black tape over it. A handful of three and a half inch nails. Some felt tins, beer stoppers, wherever they came from [laughter], and that's about it, and it's supposed to make some music.

   • 2017, Patti Leo Bath, “Keeping Up with the Newfies”, in Amy Newmark, Janet Matthews, compilers, Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of Canada: 101 Stories of Love and Gratitude, Cos Cob, Conn.: Chicken Soup for the Soul, →ISBN, part 5 (We’re All in This Together), page 172:

     In the main room a traditional Newfoundland band was playing regional folk music. People were dancing and singing and having the best time. Everyone looked so happy as they passed around the "Ugly Stick," a traditional musical instrument made from household and tool shed items like a mop handle with bottle caps, tin cans, small bells and other items to make noise. […] I'm not sure I've ever felt happier than I did while I was banging the boot with the stick attached on the floor, the nailed on bottle caps clinking to the rhythm of the folk song the band was playing.

2. (chiefly US, slang, humorous) A notional stick with which unattractive people are said to have been hit, causing them to become ugly.
   • 1969 September, Carolyn M[arie] Rodgers, “Black Poetry—Where It’s At”, in John H[arold] Johnson, editor, Negro Digest, volume XVIII, number 11, Chicago, Ill.: Johnson Publishing Company, →OCLC, pages 14–15:

     Signifying is a way of saying the truth that hurts with a laugh, a way of capping on (shutting up) someone. Getting even talking bout people's mammas & such. It's a love/hate exercise in exorcising one's hostilities. It's a funny way of saying something negative that is obviously untrue like: "you look like you been whupped wid uh ugly stick" […]

   • 1977, Geneva Smitherman, “‘The Form of Things Unknown’: Black Modes of Discourse”, in Talkin and Testifyin: The Language of Black America, Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press, published 1985, →ISBN, page 120:

     Another unique characteristic of signification is that it can be both light and heavy. […] An example of lightweight siggin or cappin is provided in the playful name-calling rituals, such as: "You so ugly look like you been hit by a ugly stick," and "Yo natural look like this broad on the wall" (pointing to a picture of Medusa).

   • 1983, William [Reynolds] Ferris, “Vision in Afro-American Folk Art: The Sculpture of James Thomas”, in William Ferris, editor, Afro-American Folk Art and Crafts (Center for the Study of Southern Culture Series), Jackson, Miss.: University Press of Mississippi, →ISBN, page 113:

     You know something. You look like you've been whipped with a ugly stick.

   • 1986 February, Cliff Hauptman, “The Fishing Partner Compatibility Test”, in Field & Stream, volume XC, number 10, Los Angeles, Calif.: CBS Magazines, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 26, column 3:

     Catfish must have been: a. Hit with the ugly stick. b. Run over by the ugly truck. c. Behind the door when they passed out good looks. d. Given ugly pills.

   • 1997 June, Ethan Mordden, “Exorcis”, in Some Men are Lookers, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 7:

     [I]t occurred to me that it would make everyone's life easier if he had some incentive to behave himself. This would comprise, for instance, not muttering "He was touched by the ugly stick" in a voodoo accent when passing one of God's unfortunates in the street; […]

   • 1999 August, Tom Neale, “On Watch: Peanut Butter in Paradise: Caribbean Chartering”, in Bernadette Brennan Bernon, editor, Cruising World, Newport, R.I.: Miller Sports Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 62:

     The guy was so ugly he looked like he'd been whopped with an ugly stick.

   • 2011, K[athaleen] D[eiser] McCrite, “The Pittiest Pit of Your Stomach”, in Cliques, Hicks, and Ugly Sticks (Confessions of April Grace; 2), Nashville, Tenn.: Tommy Nelson, Thomas Nelson, →ISBN, page 69:

     I tell you what else ought to be outlawed in our school. J.H. Henry and his hair. He looks like he has been severely beaten with the wrong end of an ugly stick.

   • 2021 October, Jen Winston, “True Life: I Masturbate Wrong”, in Greedy: Notes from a Bisexual Who Wants Too Much, New York, N.Y.: Atria Paperback, →ISBN, part I (I Want a Word for This), page 47:

     No, I was scared of the superficial kind [of ugliness] vilified in playground chants: "fell from a tree and got beaten by an ugly stick on the way down." Ugliness seemed like a scarlet letter—if just one person described you as such, you'd wear the U for eternity, doomed to a life of insults, ostracization, and friendships with donkeys (Source: Shrek).

Derived terms

• beat with the ugly stick

Translations

traditional Newfoundland musical instrument fashioned from household and toolshed items

• French: bâton laid m

notional stick with which unattractive people are said to have been hit, causing them to become ugly

Further reading

• ugly stick on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Tom Dalzell, editor (2009), “ugly stick, noun”, in The Routledge Dictionary of Modern American Slang and Unconventional English, New York, N.Y., Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge, →ISBN, page 1022, column 1.