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(http://www.word-detective.com/052301.html) When we call someone a "stick in the mud" today we usually mean a party-pooper, a no-fun homebody, the sort of sourpuss who never wants to go to the movies, cruise the mall, get drunk and throw toilet paper in the neighbors' trees or just generally have good old All-American fun. But "stick in the mud" didn't start out as a noun, a thing, a person. "Stick in the mud" is actually a short form of the verbal phrase "to stick in the mud," meaning to "stick," or stay, in an unpleasant or demeaning situation, rather than dragging oneself out of the metaphorical mud. "To stick in the mud" first appeared around 1620, and was a further development of earlier metaphors such as "to stick in the briers" (or clay, or mire) meaning simply "to be in difficult circumstances." Somewhere along the way, around the early 18th century to be specific, "stick in the mud" arose as a contemptuous term for someone who is not only "stuck in the mud," but actually seems to enjoy being there.
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