The Meaning of Headlines: 'stick around'

The Meaning of Headlines: 'stick around' - cars

In the Autos section of the online BBC News the headline, ‘Why stick shifts stick around,’ appeared on June 11, 2015. The article discusses sports cars and their transmission systems. So what does ‘stick around’ mean?

A stick shift transmission is the traditional, clutch-pedal manual car with a stick (a long rod) beside the driver’s seat. Gears are marked at the top of the stick, and the driver manually shifts the stick into the appropriate gear. The article says that almost all sports car now have automatic transmission – for ‘greater ease, efficiency and speed, a combination that has all but stamped out the stick.’ So as automatic cars become the norm, the manual stick shift cars are not. The article adds, ‘And yet, some enthusiasts insist on rowing through the gears.’ Actually, drivers don’t row through the gears, they shift through the gears – that’s why manual transmission cars are called ‘stick shifts.’

But the article said the stick shifts ‘stick around.’ What does ‘stick around’ mean? Encarta Dictionaries defines ‘stick around’ as ‘to linger or wait for somebody or something.’ In other words – to wait, to stay, to remain, or to hang around – to not go away. Arnold Schwarzenegger made the phrase a classic line in the movie Predator (1987) as he pins a guy to the wall with a knife and says ‘stick around’ in a display of brilliant acting.

The online Free Dictionary lists many variations on the meaning of ‘stick’ – one of them is ‘to fasten into place by forcing an end or point into something’ (this is the Schwarzenegger definition). It adds the following meanings: ‘a long slender piece of wood’ or ‘something that is long and thin’ or ‘to pierce or puncture’ or ‘to paste or attach with an adhesive material, such as glue or paste’ and ‘to persist or endure.’

The article does mention that the manual transmission is here to stay – and what made ‘the traditional manual transmission essential for a certain breed of sports-car buyer.’ I can vouch for that because I had a gorgeous red sports car with manual stick shift – wonderful, just wonderful!

The headline has used the word ‘stick’ twice – once for ‘stick shifts’ (manual cars) and again for ‘stick around’ (endures, lasts, doesn’t go away, lingers, hangs around).

Scorecard for the BBC News headline: 100% for its repetitive use of the word ‘stick’ – in this case it is not a ‘no-no’ because one is an adjective (it describes shifts) and the other is a verb (to stick). Technically it’s called word repetition. They are used together to emphasize a point – they are emphatic. The point being the stick. In addition the alliteration of sounds – st and sh – the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent words – is used for stylistic literary effect. All this adds up to a clever grouping of alliteration, work repetition, and double meanings. ‘Stick shifts’ is also evocative of nostalgic memories that indeed ‘stick around.’

http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20150611-the-joys-of-the-manual-transmission

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