Horse in front of the cart

  I know that language is constantly changing and evolving and words and expressions today don't mean exactly what they did a generation or two ago, but, darn it, in this case, I'm sticking with the original---meaning of course how I first assimilated it:  I refer to the carrot and stick analogy.  Modern interpretation takes it to mean that either a reward--the carrot---is offered or a punishment---the stick.  Not to my mind.  I still see the illustration of a donkey-drawn cart with a carrot dangling from a curved stick just out of reach of the animal's mouth.  So the animal is induced to move ahead with the tempting carrot luring him on, which keeps the donkey moving along in the desired direction.  There is no implied threat that he is going to be hit with the stick:  if perceived as a potential weapon against him, the donkey might balk and try to avoid the stick.  The stick is not being offered; it's merely an appendage to the carrot.  And that's the way it is.
    
    Moreover, I can still see the illustration of the difference between the words garnishee and garnish. A paycheck is lying on a dinner plate with a sprig of parsley next to it, and a big red X is drawn through the picture.  You don't GARNISH wages.  But so many people got it wrong that eventually it became correct that wages can indeed be garnished.  That's what we do-----we build on our mistakes until we obliterate them.
   And....at one time there was a distinction between the words healthy and healthful.  You did not eat a healthy diet, but a healthful one.  Again that text book line illustration of a bunch of celery joined with a carrot and maybe a few beets with its projected "arms" lifting weights.  The word  "Healthy" appears over the picture, but the big X is drawn through the illustration.  A person can be healthy: a diet is healthful.  No longer true, though.  You hardly ever hear the word healthful any more even.  Can Big Brother be closing in?