Coming Soon on Vitamin Q

...dishes named after real people / misnomers / the strange word and name Fanny / the causes of mining disasters / vocoders rock! / how to eat at the Wong Kei / The Sidewinder Whats? Tonight – REM misheard / the 12 official types of hangover / my guilty pleasures (warning: may contain Daphne & Celeste and tinned hamburgers) / how Popeye speaks / Italian graphic novel chap Dylan Dog and his many dead girlfriends / synth duos / list songs / Barbara Cartland Special / places named after pigs / what stereotypes eat in ethnic restaurants / Scooby Doo – where are they now? / things I will never ever do again / their surnames are fruit / colonial Africa – who conquered what? / strange plant lore / paint shade names / times I got lost / great band LPs made after a decade together / words for cigarette / fictional dragons (as opposed to um, er) / rock'n'roll - they died young / types of pigeon / worst ever cover versions / notable winds / 'this much is true' / racecourses of the UK / animals which die in novels...

 

DRY YOUR EARS

Mentions of the humble towel in popular songs:

1 Paul McCartney – Another Day (“She wets her hair, wraps a towel around her”)
2 Dido – Thank You (“I'm soaking through and through, then you hand me a towel”)
3 Kenny Rogers – Long Arm of the Law (“A mid-wife pulled the sheet back / And placed a cool damp towel on Marianne”)
4 Third Eye Blind – Blinded (“Grabs a towel, looks away, the heat fades with the day”)
5 Bing Crosby – Straight Down the Middle (“I'm in my glory when wrapped in a towel”)
6 Dexy's Midnight Runners – Geno (“That man took the stage, his towel swinging high”)
7 Fountains of Wayne – Stacy's Mom (“Stacy, do you remember when I mowed your lawn? / Your mom came out with just a towel on”)
8 Various – There's No Business Like Show Business (“The sawdust and the horses and the smell / The towel you've taken from the last hotel”)
9 Nirvana – Floyd the Barber (“Sit down chair, don’t be afraid. Steamed hot towel on my face”)
10 De La Soul – Dream of the Funky Towel (“We came to thank kids, not the blankets, but the towel”)
11 Lambchop – Soaky in the Pooper (“Stuff the towel beneath the door”)
12 Young Marble Giants – The Man Amplifier (“Take a towel to his brow / Soothe the features of the proud”)
13 B52s – Rock Lobster (“Everybody had matching towels”)
14 Mississippi John Hurt – Lazy Blues (“Wake up in the mornin', with a towel tied round her head”)
15 10,000 Maniacs – Can't Ignore the Train (“Dungeon life with electric light, a clean towel and a basin”)
16 East 17 – Deep (“I'll be the towel upon your naked body, wrapped around”)
17 Puff Daddy – Senorita (“Make love in a hot tub, where there's a hot towel”)
18 Joni Mitchell – Michael from Mountains (“And dry you will be in a towel or two”)
19 The Offspring – Beheaded (“Wrap a towel around the bloody stump / Take my baby's body to the city dump”)
20 Feeder – Woman in Towels (“She's looking good in a new towel”)

There are more- but this is enough! I've missed out the many songs (eg Orange Juice – I Can't Help Myself, Bowling for Soup – Down for the Count, Alanis Morissette – Are You Still Mad?) which use variations on the phrase 'throw in the towel'

 

SHIVER ME TIMBERS

Seven pirates I saw, yesterday:

1 ruby cheeks, little glasses, tiny rolled up ears, cotton wool hair, belt buckle the size of a ship's biscuit tin, tweed breeks, small but very sharp cutlass

2 hook nose, mouth like an old purse, ratty beard tied into points with ribbons, huge hoop earring, twinkling evil eyes, striped jersey, parrot on shoulder

3 pulsing eyes, Lemmy moustache, cleft chin, orange turban hat, hoops in ears, oversize pistol, boots up to thighs, with cup tops, squeeze box tied to belt with orange yarn

4 big tea cosy hat with skull and crossbones, gaunt, narrow-eyed face, short woolly facial hair, billowing smock shirt with grog stains, one hand missing, replaced by hook

5 foxy facial fluff, patch over one eye, mean as a wasp in a hailstorm, teeth like knives, huge foldy-over boots, fading treasure map in top pocket

6 Hispanic prince-like, ringleted raven hair, ski-slope nose, shiny scimitar, crimson and ruffs, moleskin breeches and goddamnyouall

7 papyrus skin, droopy tash under beaky hooter, lazy eye, spotted neckerchief with clinging bits of sprat, peg leg, silver buttons, big bag hat

 

ACTING THE GOAT

Verbs derived from animal names:

1 squirrel – to hide away
2 hog – to take control of
3 fox – to bamboozle
4 ferret – to seek persistently
5 ape – to mimic
6 badger – to bother repeatedly
7 wolf – to eat ravenously
8 dog – to follow
9 hare – to move swiftly
10 rat – to cheat on
11 beaver – to work hard at
12 cat – to vomit
13 ram – to bash into
14 horse – to climb onto
15 hound – to chase, persist

Some animals which didn't give their names to their same-word verbs (different derivations): rabbit, fawn, bat, bear.

 

TALKING TURKEY

What some London restaurants are serving for Thanksgiving:

1 Smollensky's – crabcakes, flame-grilled New England turkey, cinammon-rubbed pork fillet, peanut butter cheesecake
2 Canyon – roast maple-glazed turkey with sage, onion and yellow corn stuffing
3 The Ritz – clam chowder with lobster ravioli and sweetcorn foam, traditional roast turkey with chestnut stuffing, chipolatas and sweet potato fondants
4 Circus – East Coast oysters, turkey escalope with corn fritters and cranberry jelly, maple syrup and pumpkin cheesecake
5 Villandry – white fish chowder, spicy New Mexican salad with sweetcorn and chili peppers, bourbon and maple-syrup glazed corned beef, Mississippi mud pie with toasted marshmallows
6 Ashbell's – roast pumpkin soup, roast turkey, herb mash, pumpkin pie
7 Texas Embassy Cantina – spicy turkey and corn soup, turkey with jalapeno cranberry sauce, pumpkin cheesecake
8 Bodean's – smoked chicken gumbo, smoked turkey with cornbread stuffing
9 Arkansas Cafe – barbecued turkey, succotash, sweet potato, coleslaw, spiced red cabbage and stuffing
10 The Dorchester Grill – New England clam chowder, turkey with sweet potato mash, pumpkin pie with pecan ice-cream
11 Cactus Blue – roast sweetcorn bisque, redcurrant, maple-glazed turkey with sage and onion stuffing, candied pecan and pumpkin pie
12 Avenue – Boston clam chowder, Maryland crabcakes, chocolate pecan pie with butterscotch popcorn ice cream
13 T Bar – shrimp cocktail with ketchup, horseradish and vodka dressing, roast turkey, pumpkin pie
14 Noble Rot – chestnut and foie gras soup, turkey breast with candied yams, pumpkin pie with clotted cream ice-cream
15 Christopher's – Rhode Island oyster fritters with maple-cured bacon, maple-roast ham with cider gravy and corn pudding, blackberry and apple cobbler
16 Rousillon – braised truffled turkey with roasted chestnuts and stuffing, pumpkin pie with spiced ice-cream

Source: The Times The Knowledge section

 
BOOK LAUNCH

Vitamin Q, the Chambers Harrap book, will be launched with a party in Islington, London, on the evening of Tuesday 30th November. All readers of the website are welcome to attend. Please introduce yourself by sending an email and I will let you know the time and place...

Roddy

 
QZ NIGHT

33 things containing both Q and Z:

1 Qazvin – city in Northern Iran
2 The Equalizer – US TV show starring Edward Woodward
3 bezique – a card game
4 Quezon City – Filipino city, named after President Manuel Quezon
5 Suzi Quatro – US singer and actress
6 queez-maddam – Walter Scott's spelling of the name for a French pear
7 Sqezy – brand of washing-up liquid
8 quinze – another card game
9 tzaddiq – a Hasidic leader
10 Captain Quazar – 1990s computer game
11 José Maria Eça de Quieroz – 19^th century Portuguese novelist
12 Louis Quatorze – French monarch
13 Quitz – N American 'stop smoking' organisation
14 Quiz Show – 1994 film starring Robert Redford
15 quantization - expression in accordance with the quantum theory
16 quetzal – Central American bird / Guatemalan currency
17 Snoozer Quinn – jazz singer and guitarist
18 quartzite – metamorphic rock formed from quartz grains
19 Quanzhou – Chinese city
20 Quetzalcoatl - 'Feathered Serpent', Toltec god of civilization
21 Queen Elizabeth Islands – Canadian island group
22 Corazon Aquino – Filipino politician
23 Mohammed Zia ul-Haq – former leader of Pakistan
24 Quezaltenango – Guatemalan city
25 Diego Velasquez – Spanish master painter
26 Squeeze – long-running UK pop group
27 Johaan Joachim Quantz – German composer
28 Balam Quitze – man created from maize in Mayan mythology
29 Quaze – US rap producer
30 Qizi Iron Cake – type of Chinese tea
31 quoz! - an exclamation briefly faddish in early 19^th century London*
32 Quitzow - family of robber barons in 15th century Germany
33 Az Zaqaziq – Egyptian city (two Zs, two Qs!)

*In an 1841 book, Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Charles Mackay wrote about the strange phenomenon of buzz phrases which would strike up and become maddeningly popular for a while in London. Apart from the unexplained shouts of quoz!, these include the following:

1 What a shocking bad hat!
2 Hookey Walker! or Walker!
3 There he goes with his eye out!
4 Has your mother sold her mangle?
5 Flare up!
6 Does your mother know you're out?
7 Who are you?
8 Cherry ripe!
9 The sea! The sea!

*Neil Gaiman has pointed out another of these catchphrases - 'Tuppence more and up goes the donkey'. This saying derives from groups of strolling acrobats who would form a human pyramid and promise to hoist up the poor donkey which carried their props. This saying probably derives from slightly later than Mackay's book, which records pre-Victorian strangeness. But here is an acrobat's testimony to the origin of the phrase:

'I have been an equilibrist for eight years now, playing in the open air or in-doors. I am a slack wire dancer as well. As an equilibrist I balance poles and an 18-foot deal plank on my chin. Formerly I balanced a donkey on the top of a ladder. It's dreadfully hard work; it pulls you all to pieces. Over 30 years of age you feel it more and more. The donkey was strapped tight to the ladder; there was no training needed for the donkey; any young donkey would do. It was frightening at first generally, but got accustomed to it after a time - use is a great thing. The papers attacked the performance and I was taken to Union-hall for balancing by donkey in the streets. I was fined 7s. 6d., and they kept the donkey in default. I never let the donkey fall, and always put it down gently, for I have the use of my hands in that feat. I was the original of the saying, sir. Twopence more, and up goes the donkey. It's a saying still, and a part of the language now.'

 

RID OF ME

One of the current buzzwords seems to be to describe unpleasant or unwanted things as a scourge, or as the scourge of something else. Here are a few old favourites and some discovered recently:

the scourge of sarcasm / landmines, the scourge of Angola / the scourge of mastitis / spyware, the scourge of the Internet / the scourge of desertification / the scourge of calculators / fire ants, the six-legged scourge of the South / the scourge of net perverts / the scourge of militarism / dust, the scourge of civilization / the scourge of modernism / the scourge of short-termism / the scourge of human trafficking / HIV, the scourge of Africa / the scourge of racism / the scourge of scurvy / policy, the scourge of the people / ticks, the scourge of woodland / the scourge of ritual murders / the scourge of Arial / the scourge of attachments / garlic, the scourge of the 90s / the scourge of child labour / the scourge of leafy spurge / Orwell, the scourge of inequity / snipers, the scourge of Ebay / the hiccough, the scourge of man / spambots, the scourge of blogs / Malcolm Marshall, the scourge of batsmen / the scourge of salmonella / the scourge of sweatshops / catfishes, the scourge of the deep / the scourge of suicide bombing / alcohol, the scourge of Scotland / locusts, the scourge of the prairie / bully boys, the scourge of the playground / the scourge of the swastika / Fluffy, Scourge of the Sea* / Lleylandii hedges, the scourge of suburbia / the scourge of Guinea worms / Attila, scourge of God / harrassment, the scourge of gym class / the scourge of obesity / the scourge of flyposting / late blight, the scourge of the tomato garden /

*a children's picture book

Source: Google; thanks to Hazel (Scourge of Errors) for the idea

 
WHAT’S YOURS?

Beers can (with a few minor variations) be categorised under these ‘styles’:

Tropical Stout / Strong Ale / Oatmeal Stout / Old Ale / Rauchbier / Mild Ale / Oudenaarde Brown / Chocolate Stout / Belgian Wheat Beer / Spiced Summer Lager / Coffee Stout / Altbier / Münchner Hell / Zwickelbier / India Pale Ale / Dortmunder / Kölschbier / Barley Wine / Raspberry Ale / Sweet Stout / Dry Stout / Kristall Weisse / Wee Heavy / Strong Golden Ale / Honey Ale / Adam Bier / Old Brown Lager / Pilsner / Strong Stout / Black Beer / Extra Strong Lager / Authentic Trappist / Stone Beer / Imperial Stout / Heather Ale / Kellerbier / Belgian Abbey Ale / Munich Lager / Scottish Ale / Spiced Beer / Frambozen-Lambic / Unfiltered Lager / May Bock / Smoked Porter / Milk Stout / Elderberry Beer / Export / Plain Porter / Brown Ale / Spring Bock / Wheat Bock / Northwestern Ale / Dampfbier / Spiced Ale / Golden Lager / Bitter Ale / Strong Scottish Ale / Flemish Red / Hefeweisen / Extra Special Bitter / Double Bock / Bière de Garde / Berliner Weise / Whisky-malt Lager / Dry Fruit Stout / Gose / Vienna Lager / Rye Ale / Saison / Irish Red Ale / Gueuze / Festbier / Abbey Double / Pine Beer / Kriek-Lambic / Summer Ale / Dark Lager / American Ale

Source: Great Beer Guide (Michael Jackson, Dorling Kindersley)

 
UPDATE

Vitamin Q is a blog run by Roddy Lumsden, a Scottish poet who lives in London. I post various lists and curious items on words and, well, stuff. Traffic has been high here recently, due to yet another very welcome recommendation from Neil Gaiman, to whom I am as ever grateful. Neil Gaiman has said kindly of the book version, "Roddy Lumsden has a dangerous genius for compiling lists of trivia for people who don't think they like trivia or lists. Wonderful stuff."

The best of Vitamin Q is now available as a 350 page book from Chambers Harrap, one of the UK's leading reference publishers. It is available from their website by clicking on the link at the top left. The site is secure and US readers should get copies (including postage) fairly quickly for less than $15. It is also available from amazon.co.uk, and will be available soon from amazon.com.

If you've not been here before - the archive to the left contains the equivalent of a 600 page book of nonsense, so please bookmark and come browse when you're bored. Roddy

 

AT THE EDGE

The episodes of TV's The Water Margin, a 1970s epic adventure series set at the time of the Tsung dynasty in China:

1 Nine Dozen Heroes and One Wicked Man

2 None Ever Escape Alive

3 Both at Last Will Reach the Sea

4 Ever Busy are the Gods of Love

5 A Treasure of Gold and Jade

6 Bandits who Steal are Executed

7 How Easy to Die, How Hard to Live

8 A Man's Only Happiness

9 A Dutiful Son and the Love of a Brother

10 Escape is Not Freedom

11 The Girl Who Loved the Flower Priest

12 Kao Chiu Loses His Heart

13 When Liang Shan Po Robbed the Poor

14 A Death for Love, More Deaths from Greed

15 The Bravest Tiger is First Killed

16 Heaven Aims the Master's Arrow

17 The Traps of Love and Hate

18 A Foolish Sage Who Got Involved

19 Mourn the Slaughter of So Many

20 The War to End All Wars

21 Death of a Great Man

22 Lin Chung is Beaten

23 A Concubine's Dowry

24 Liang Shan Po and the Millionaire

25 Knight of the Long Sword

26 The Dynasty of Kao

 
OVER THE DOCKS

The Docklands Light Railway in East London has a high percentage of unusual and pleasing station names. Among these are:

Mudchute
Heron Quays
Royal Albert
Crossharbour
Island Gardens
All Saints
East India
Limehouse
Cyprus
Canary Wharf
Gallions Reach
Blackwall
Bow Church
Cutty Sark
West India Quay
Prince Regent
Canning Town
Tower Gateway
Shadwell
Custom House
Poplar
Westferry

 

HUMAN HORN

I recently heard at last some of the work of Shooby Taylor – The Human Horn. In the wonderful book Songs in the Key of Z, Irwin Chusid looked at some of the most eccentric (and some downright bonkers) musicians of recent decades. Taylor, an African American from Brooklyn, thought to be a retired postal worker, recorded a series of songs in a local studio in the early 80s which have come to be cult classics. He is basically a scat singer and Chusid helpfully offers a list of Shooby's most common utterings which he describes as 'Mother Goose nonsense simmering in a rich Afro-Yiddish stew':

da-da-shrah
dov-sheddilee-doo-dah

dwee da-da-sah
feedilee-oat'n dwee-bee
la-da-dah shree, lo poo-pah
lah chilidee-dah-dah-dot, raw chidily blah-bah
pa shiddle-ee da-da-la
poppy-da-raw
poppy-poppy dah-shrah, dobby-dobby dob-shrah
pwee-dot, dwee-dot, wah e-saw
saw-haw-raw-haw
shleh-do-vey-diddle-ee-doo-zah
shooby-splaw, shabala-raw
shree-shrah-ha, shrabala-rah, shala-rah, sada-EEE, sidily-blobby
sidily doot-in-doot splaw
sleh-doo-dah-lava-pee
tweeding-da, tweeding-da ta dob-de-dah, lye-ah
we dah-dah sah, pee-pah

ICE ICE BABY

One of the growth areas in dubious foods has been unusual ice cream flavours: in Japan, you can have octopus flavour, or ox tongue; in the Philippines, purple yam ice cream with lumps of cheese can be sampled; celebrated UK chef Heston Blumenthal has experimented with flavours including bacon and egg, mustard and sardines on toast. But the Mecca for ice cream madness must be Heladeria Coromoto in the Andean town of Merida in Venezuala.Offering over 800 flavours, many of them savoury, the parlour currently claims the record for most varieties. These include:

black bean / shrimp / cornflakes / white mullet roe / rice / spaghetti and cheese / garlic / meat / Pepsi cola / corn on the cob / ark shell / mushroom / smoked trout / potato / pig skin / hot pepper / crab / cheeseburger / squid / ham and cheese / seafood stew / mamey colorado / rose / carrot / tuna / whiskey / spearmint / sausage / chestnut / prune / red wine

Some of the flavours are more figuratively named:

Goddess Venus / Viagra – the Hope / World Cup / Andean Condor / Honeymoon / For the Mothers / You Stepped On My Toes / Good Night / Temptation / The Reporters / Forgive Me My Love / Lonely Planet / My First Kiss

Source: various

 
VIVE LE ROCK

Pop and rock songs which suddenly break into French, cod or otherwise:

1 Chic - Le Freak (c‘est chic!)
2 Style Council - Down in the Seine (quand on n’a plus rien en soi, quand on n’a plus de refuge)
3 Blondie - Sunday Girl (j'ai vu ton mec avec une autre fille, il semblait dans un autre monde)
4 The Police - Hungry For You (tout le monde est à moi, je l'ai gagné dans un jeu de cartes)
5 The Beatles - Michelle (sont des mots qui vont tres bien ensemble, tres bien ensemble)
6 Bill Wyman - Je Suis Un Rock Star (je avais un residence, je habiter la a la South of France, voulez vous partir with me)
7 Placebo - Mars Landing Party (erm, embrasse moi, mets ton doigt dans mon cul)
8 Talking Heads - Psycho Killer (ce que je fait, ce soir la etc)
9 Labelle - Lady Marmalade (voulez vous couchez avec moi, ce soir)
10 Kraftwerk - Tour de France (le velo vite repare, le peloton est regroupe, camarades et amitie)
11 Manhattan Transfer - Chanson d’Amour (ra da da da da)
12 Kylie Minogue - Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi
13 Tom Tom Club - Wordy Rappinghood (mots maudits, mots mentis, mots qui manquent le fruit d'esprit)
14 Pulp - Manon (Ca femme est morte, oui c'est vrai)
15 Baccara - Parlez Vous Francais? (voulez vous dancer etc)
16 Roxy Music - A Song for Europe (tous ces moments perdus dans l`enchantement etc etc)
17 Abba - Voulez Vous (uh-huh!)

Source: le various (NB So much feedback on this list, it will be updated next week)

 
SPAM POEM

Recently, hotmail clients have been receiving spam with subject lines consisting of apparently randomly selected words, which have the accumulative effect of experimental poetry. Each of these is an email subject line.

avocado pit stalactites
await assyriology cupidity
hexagon rhetoric
tripod taxidermists
psychosomatic countryside
trim sunburn
paycheck ballerinas
gay layout
civil duplex drosophila
caper clank spleenwort
constructible dish
skyscraper dissidents
marzipan 90 tenors
rattlesnake 64 dilettantes
the citizens have adjusted
fishery
hallway flirt
swede byword wield
configure fret barbell bonnie

Source: thanks to Hazel for her spam files

 
COMEBACK KIDS

20 TV characters played by more than one actor:

1 Darrin (Bewitched) - Dick Sargent / Dick York
2 Peggy Mitchell (Eastenders*) - Jo Warne / Barbara Windsor
3 John Boy Walton (The Waltons) - Richard Thomas / Robert Wightman
4 Becky (Roseanne**) - Lecy Goranson / Sarah Chalke
5 Morty Seinfeld (Seinfeld) - Barney Martin / Phil Bruns
6 Scott Robinson (Neighbours*) - Darius Perkins / Jason Donovan
7 Colleen Cooper (Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman) - Erika Flores / Jessica Bowman
8 Quentin Kelly (Grace Under Fire) - Jon Paul Steuer / Sam Horrigan
9 Pigsy (Monkey) - Toshiyuki Nishida / Tonpei Hidari
10 Marilyn (The Munsters) - Beverly Owen / Pat Priest
11 Number 2 (The Prisoner) - played by a different actor in most episodes
12 Vivian Banks (Fresh Prince of Bel-Air) - Janet Hubert-Whitten / Daphne Reid
13 (Miss) Ellie Ewing (Dallas) - Barbara Bel Geddes / Donna Reed
14 Jack Sugden (Emmerdale Farm) - Andrew Burt / Clive Hornby
15 Blanche Hunt (Coronation Street) - Patricia Cutts / Maggie Jones
16 The Doctor (Doctor Who) - played by several actors over the years
17 Fallon Colby (Dynasty***) - Pamela Sue Martin / Emma Samms
18 Kochanski (Red Dwarf) - Clare Grogan / Chloe Annett
19 Neely Capshaw (Baywatch) - Jennifer Campbell / Gena Lee Nolin
20 Mildred (One Foot in the Grave) - Jean Challis / Barbara Ashcroft

* Many characters in soaps have been played by two actors, or more if they begin as child characters - Lucy Robinson (Neighbours) was played by three different young actresses, as was Janine Butcher in Eastenders and Coronation Street’s Tracy Barlow
** DJ was played by another young actor in the pilot episode
*** Characters Steven and Amanda Carrington were both also played by two actors

 
TAKING STOCK

64 types of stick (don‘t get too excited, now):

1 shaving stick (hard, foamable soap)
2 crook
3 pogo-stick
4 coup stick (American Indian weapon)
5 swagger stick (short military cane)
6 baton
7 catstick (used in the cricket-like game of tipcat)
8 chopstick
9 shooting stick (walking stick with a handle which becomes a seat)
10 caduceus (the rod of Hermes)
11 jack-straw (stick used in the picking up game of spillikins)
12 beanpole
13 gear-stick
14 crudité (vegetable stick for dipping in sauces)
15 hobby horse (children‘s pole toy with horse‘s head)
16 joy-stick
17 spurtle (porridge stick)
18 cane
19 knobkerrie (S African club)
20 poting-stick (used for arranging pleats in a ruff)
21 drumstick
22 dibber (short, thick tool used to make holes for seeds)
23 swizzlestick (cocktail stirrer)
24 dipstick (for testing oil)
25 Pooh stick (twig used in river racing game)
26 broomstick
27 crop
28 gluestick
29 potstick (stirring tool)
30 lipstick
31 ocean stick (a fishy snack)
32 candle-stick
33 shillelagh (Irish cudgel)
33 grissini (Italian bread-stick)
35 ski-stick
36 toothpick
37 night-stick (police truncheon)
38 joss-stick (incense burning stick)
39 walking-stick
40 wicket
41 matchstick
42 hockey stick
43 maulstick (used by artists and signwriters to keep a hand steady)
44 swordstick (hollow cane with space for a thin sword)
45 rod
46 tent-pole
47 lightstick (used by divers)
48 rattan (a palm cane)
49 alpenstock (long walking staff)
50 cleft stick (split stick used or carrying a letter)
51 orange-stick (small tool used by make-up artists)
52 sparkler (thin spark-spitting firework)
53 mop-stick (metal piano part)
54 lolly stick (cardboard or wooden stick in a lollipop or ice-lolly)
55 glowstick (LED-lit baton used at raves)
56 crosier (bishop‘s staff)
57 rickstick (old-fashioned tool for forming haystacks)
58 toddy-stick (for mixing hot alcoholic drinks)
59 fiddlestick (a violin bow)
60 ramrod (for clearing gun barrels)
61 Thai stick (potent marijuana buds tied round a spill)
62 poss stick (formerly used for washing large batches of bedding)
63 singlestick (rod for one-handed combat)
64 clothes-prop

Source: list by Tim Wells and Roddy