Carrot on a stick

In the 1970s, the Canadian government's long-outstanding promise of bringing a paved road to the northern Vancouver Island community had been compared by the north islanders to a dangling carrot

Carrot on a stick is an idiom that refers to a policy of offering a reward for making progress towards benchmarks or goals but not necessarily ever actually delivering. The original metaphor referred to a boy sitting on a cart being pulled by a donkey. The boy held a long stick to which a carrot had been tied, and he dangled the carrot in front of the donkey but just out of its reach. As the donkey moved forward to get the carrot, it pulled the cart—and the boy—so that the carrot always remained just out of reach as the cart moved forward.

See also

• Carrot and stick
• Experiential gifts
• Impulsion
• Working animal

External links

• Paul Brians, Department of English, Washington State University “Carrot on a stick” vs. “the carrot or the stick.”