getting the dirty end of the stick

[Sw33tFari3]

what does getting the dirty end of the stick mean and its orgin?

[Quizmonster]

I'm not sure about 'dirty', as I've only ever heard of "getting (hold of) the wrong end of the stick". I'd guess it originated with the teacher's - or some other authority-figure's - cane. In other words, the teacher was on the 'right'...ie not painful...end of it and the miscreant wasn't! From that, it possibly came to be applied to any situation where a wrong decision, assumption etc was made for which one might be punished...even if only by being made to look silly.

[shaneystar2]

I have heard this term and have often used it myself to mean I always get the rotten jobs to do !!
I think it could originate from ancient times when they used a sponge on the end of a stick to clean themselves after their ablutions. If you were unlucky you got the dirty end of the stick....enough said !!

[Grunty]

anyone who wants a nice answer, close your eyes. One theory I was told by an expert is that it originated in Roman toilets. They hadn't invented toilet rolls, and used a sponge on a stick which would be swilled out and left for the next person. That much is true. The theory is that the next person could pick up the bum end.

[Grunty]

Sorry shaneystar. I was in a hurry to go to work and I should have read yours properly first.

[Quizmonster]

The earliest recorded use of the phrase "dirty end of the stick" dates back only to the 1920s, though there is an American reference from the 1840s to the "'c' followed by 'rappy' end of the stick". Given that the Romans had left Britain - presumably taking their hygiene-sticks with them - a millennium and a half earlier, it seems (to me, anyway) odd that people would suddenly start referring idiomatically to them again!
Apart from the teacher's stick I mentioned earlier, there might have been other more probable sorts of stick involved. How about an ordinary handle-less walking-stick? If you were out in the fields and woods, you may often have stuck it into muddy earth and then - after pausing for a rest - absentmindedly picked it up by the grubby end. That seems far more likely than a long-gone conqueror's practice. Even as a Roman, just how canny would you have been when using a public toilet?!

[danube]

Wrong end of the stick -not the true facts, a distorted version. To have got hold of the wrong end of the stick is to have misunderstood the story. (Mental)

The dirty end of the stick - to come off badly, to be left to bear the brunt of things, not to be treated fairly. (Physical)

Brewer's Dictionary supporting the previous answers.

[Quizmonster]

I think we knew that, Danube. I referred to "any situation where a mistaken decision was made" such as misunderstanding the truth re the 'wrong' end and Shaney explained "the rotten jobs" angle re the 'dirty' end. What was exercising us was the origin of the sayings in each case and it seems Brewer's was no help. Brewer's is a delight but, sadly, it often fails to come up with the goods.

[danube]

Sorry - wasn't looking to explain the origin, but to show the difference between the two phrases - one mental and one physical.

[missfruitcak]

http://www.friesenhahn.net/toilet.htm

In public latrines, a communal bucket of salt water stood close by in which rested a long stick with a sponge tied to one end. The user would cleanse his person with the spongy end and return the stick to the water for the next one to use. The stick later evolved into the shape of a hockey stick, and the source for the expression "getting hold of the wrong end of the stick." It also provided an excellent medium for passing along bacteria and the assorted diseases they engendered.
Running water for the latrine either was supplied by stone water tanks or else by an aqueduct patterned after the graceful, curved arches made famous by the Roman engineers. Those water experts knew that covering water keeps it cool from the sun and helps prevent the spread of algae.

"Fruitcake"