short end of the stick, the

Idioms  

1. The inferior part, the worse side of an unequal deal. For example, Helen got the short end of the stick when she was assigned another week of night duty. The precise analogy in this term, first recorded in the 1930s, has been lost. Some believe it comes from worse end of the staff, used since the early 1500s, which in the mid-1800s became, in some instances, short or shitty end of the stick, allegedly from a stick poked up one's rectum by another in command of the situation. Others believe it alludes to fighting with sticks, where having a shorter stick is a disadvantage. Also see wrong end of the stick.

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Example Sentences

I think the notion of Make America Great Again very much appeals to people who were feeling like, “There was a time when we weren’t so much on the short end of the stick. The rural area’s always on the periphery, but something is different now than it was when I was growing up as a kid.”

From Slate