Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 15:06:47 -0500 (EST)
From: David F Maier <dfm8-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: RE: For those of you who know your German.


On Wed, 27 Jan 1999 f1221-AT-cc.nagasaki-u.ac.jp wrote:

> 1. I do not know why you associate >Zuckerbrot und Peitsche<
> with women or nature. So let me just say that >Zuckerbrot<
> [>sugar bread<] is a somewhat old-fashioned word for biscuit,
> and nowadays used almost exclusively as a metaphor for a
> small reward or gratification. The word sounds slightly funny
> and has mild connotations suggesting bait, bribery, pampered
> children or pacifiers.
> [I could cite some examples from German literature to illustrate
> this, but all I know are a bit bizarre, so I dare not do so.]
> 
> >Peitsche< is the everyday-German word for whip. It has no
> obvious connection to women [or nature or truth], except for the
> quote from Zaratusthra.
> 
> If I was asked what English saying comes closest to it, I`d
> chose: >Bamboozle and Bamboo<.

I have *never* heard this.  How about "the carrot and the stick"?

D.