"Same sticky end" ?
At the end of the movie, Lucius says that Harry will meet the "same sticky end" as his parents..I thought he meant death since his parents are dead, but death is not a "sticky end" so what did Lucius mean by "sticky end" ?
shareSticky end I believe he meant like when you're betrayed by the closest ones and not know what hit them like it did for Lily and James Potter.
When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.
But what does that have to do with being sticky
shareYou do realize that this has got nothing to do with glue, don't you? ๎
When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.
No I don't. What else does "sticky" mean then?
shareIn Informal way it means a situation involving problems; difficult or awkward.
Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas.
a sticky end is a bad end.
Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain (Isaac Asimov)
Why is the word "sticky" used? Why not just use "bad end" instead of "sticky end" ?
sharemy understanding is that the sticky is blood and the end is the point of a sword or spear.
Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain (Isaac Asimov)
my understanding is that the sticky is blood and the end is the point of a sword or spear.
Of course it fits perfectly well for Game of Thrones for all its sword fights, but there weren't much sword fights in the Magical world, except for the killing the snake with a Gryffindor sword.
Nothing like a nighttime stroll to give you ideas. share
it's just an expression. like making mountains out of molehills. it's not meant to be taken literally.
Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain (Isaac Asimov)
Yea, but "making mountains out of molehills" has a relevant analogy of a large area to a small area. The expression "sticky end" used the word "sticky" which didn't seem to have any relevance to the word "bad" until you actually look up the history of the word "sticky" and it actually does mean "bad"
share"Come to a sticky end" is quite a common expression in the English -speaking world for the reasons listed by other posters and it is quite appropriate for Lucius Malfoy to use it in the form of a veiled threat to Harry. ๐ญ
shareOkay, I did some research and found the etymology of the word "sticky" :
sticky, adj. (Of persons) wooden, dull; awkward: 1881, Mrs Lynn Linton (O.E.D.). Ex stick, a dull person.โ2. (Of stock) not easy to sell: Stock Exchange: 1901, *The Times, Oct. 24 (O.E.D.) : > by 1920, coll Cf. sticker, 1. q.v.โ3. (Of persons) not easy to interview; unpleasant and/or obstinate; difficult to placate: from ca. 1919. Ex :โ4. Of situation, incident, work, duty : unpleasant; very difficult : 1915 ('A sticky time in the trenches': O.E.D. Sup.); T. S. Eliot, in Time and Tide, Jan. 5, 1935, '[St Thomas of Canterbury] came to a sticky end.' This sense derives prob. ex senses 1 and 2 + S.E. (? orig.โ1989โcoll.) sticky, (applied to troops) apt to hesitate in obeying commands (O.E.D., adj., 2, 949 ยง2, b). [Emphasis added]
come to a sticky end
(British & Australian humorous) also meet a sticky end (British & Australian humorous)
to die in an unpleasant way Of course the villain comes to a sticky end in the last act of the play.
Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain (Isaac Asimov)