Polishing the glasses and pulling out the cork

[venta]

When I moved to London, I had this vague and woolly idea that I had lots of friends in London, and that visiting them would be easy. It turns out, it isn't. I knew bits of London could be quite a long way from other bits of London, but hadn't quite appreciated the extent to which this is true.

There's also the problem of working it out. Some bits are unpredictably far away. Closeish in distance, but an awkward tube ride. Some bits are unpredictably close. Bloody miles in distance, but an unexpectedly convenient bus just happens to link them. Sometimes public transport is a pig, but it's a dead easy drive for those with cars.

There's also the difference of what various people consider "too far". Some people think an hour's travel is fair game for London. Some think that's a ridiculous distance on a school night.

This has caused the following problem: I'd like to invite people round for dinner more often, but I always worry that journeying to my house might be too much of a chore. If I could be confident that people would say "God, no, you live in the Styx[*]" that would be fine. But people can be fettered by too much politeness. Accordingly, I have a survey to see whether you'd like to be invited for dinner.

I am not a fabulous cook. I think I'm an all right cook, but then I read posts on here where people write about how they were so knackered when they got home from work they just couldn't be bothered to do more than whip up a roast peacock mousse with carrot ganache and candied walnut shavings. Occasionally people post photos, and I think good heavens, I am a culinary Neanderthal. But I've not killed anyone yet.

So... if I'm having a cooking frenzy, would you consider an invitation to dinner a good thing? I now live in Ealing, about ten minutes walk from Ealing Broadway. It's just off the A40, so not actually too hideous from somewhere like Oxford if you have a car. My cooking frenzies are unpredictable, so this is a general question rather than a party I'm planning next week.

[Poll #1619415]

[*] I've never written that phrase down before. Is it Styx like the river? Or is it actually Sticks?

Comments

[shui-long.livejournal.com]

With respect, UrbanDictionary is wrong (and outvoted)

[mejoff.livejournal.com]

With respect, the phrase 'in the sticks' is nonsense, born of ignorance.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I agree that Styx has a perfectly logical explanation - more so than sticks - but plausibility does not valid etymology make. Could you explain why you think it must be right? My go-to reference books for this kind of thing agree on "sticks" (OED and Brewer's dictionary) or don't mention either (Dictionary of Historical Slang).

Brewer's cites a 1935 American newspaper headline as the earliest use (the rather incomprehensible "Sticks nix hicks pix" referring to, apparently, some rural folk being disparaging about films about farmers).