Baffling Country Music Lyrics

On the whiteboard in my office I have an old tradesman quote - "Measure twice, cut once.".

My German boss walked in last week and read it for the first time. I contemplated telling him that it's been there for two years, but instead decided to tell the internet about it. Anyway, when he read the quote he said in a humorous German accent -"If this was a German quote it would read 'Measure Once, Cut Once!'".

The clever guy, poking fun at American intellect, what a hoot! I quickly replied "Sure, but that's only because Germans are on the metric system.". I felt smart for a minute, and he had a laugh.

I've been on a '90s country music kick lately, which isn't surprising since I grew up very country. It's funny to listen to the lyrics and find all kinds of glaring mistakes in the slang of the time.

Her daddy says, he isn't worth a lick 

When it come to brains he got the short end of the stick

Holy Crap! That's terrible!

Nope.

Here's my question; who's the idiot, Tommy, or the singer's dad? Short is a relative term. How can you "get" the short end of the stick? What stick? Did someone draw a random line on the stick and throw it into the air like a baton and Tommy just happened to catch it by grabbing the side of the stick that the line just happened to be arbitrarily closer to?

Maybe if I google Short End Of The Stick I'll get some answers!

Okay, sure, that makes se- No it doesn't! That's not a short end! It's divided by a person in a picture, that doesn't make one end of the stick shorter than the other!

WHY AM I SO ANGRY ABOUT THIS!?