Meaning
Used of a quantity or number too large to count or take in, typically in the pattern 'more X than you can shake a stick at'. It conveys abundance with a slightly folksy, exaggerated tone and is heard most often in North American speech. Colloquial and folksy; strongest in American English and almost always built around the 'more ... than' frame. Regional use: American English.
Origin
The earliest known citation, recorded by Michael Quinion at World Wide Words, is the Lancaster Journal of Pennsylvania of 5 August 1818: 'We have in Lancaster as many Taverns as you can shake a stick at.' Early nineteenth-century uses, including Davy Crockett's Tour to the North and Down East (1835, of having 'nothing to treat a friend that was worth shaking a stick at') and an 1868 example from James Kirke Paulding, suggest the underlying image was brandishing a stick as a threatening or defiant gesture - something 'worth shaking a stick at' was a worthy opponent - and the modern fixed 'more ... than' pattern expressing abundance is somewhat younger. The derivation is genuinely unknown: farmers tallying livestock by pointing a stick, shaking sticks at beaten enemies, and a supposed link to the Native American practice of counting coup have all been proposed, but Quinion concludes these are conjectures without supporting evidence.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- As many as you can shake a stick at
- More things than you can shake a stick at
- Worth shaking a stick at
Usage Examples
- The conference had more panels than you could shake a stick at, so we split up to cover them.
- This county has more antique shops than you can shake a stick at.
- They ended up with more rescued cats than you can shake a stick at, and the vet bills prove it.