What it means
Way out in the middle of nowhere, deep rural country where houses get sparse and the streetlights pack it in. Living in the sticks means a proper drive for anything useful and a whole lot of quiet, with maybe a tractor groaning past and birds kicking off at stupid o'clock.
Usage examples
"They moved out to the sticks for the cheap rent, but now it is an hour's drive just to catch a film."
"They moved out to the sticks for the peace and quiet, now it is a forty-minute drive just to buy a pint of milk."
"Signal is useless out in the sticks, I had to stand on a fence post to send a single text."
"He grew up out in the sticks, so popping to the shop still means getting in the car and making a whole journey of it."
"We rented a cottage in the sticks for the weekend and even the sat nav looked like it was having second thoughts."
Where it comes from
This has been in English since the early 20th century. Here, sticks meant wooded country or rough rural terrain, so being out in the sticks meant being way out among the trees, far from town. It stuck as a jokey, slightly dismissive way to talk about somewhere remote and properly country.
Other ways to say it
Editors of this term
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