棍子本身，與趕牲口的動作
這一支就是核心畫面的字面版本：真的有一根尖棍，真的有一隻不肯動的牲口。
noun · C2
A long stick with a sharp point at one end, used for poking cattle and other farm animals so that they keep moving forward.
趕牲口的尖棍
核心畫面
Picture a long stick with a sharp point. The ox will not move, so the farmer steps behind it and gives it one poke. The animal does not go because it wants to; it goes because something sharp touched it from behind. That stick is a goad, and to goad is to use it. Later the stick became words, a deadline, or an offer, and the animal became a person. The picture stayed: something pokes from behind, and only then does the one in front move.
goad 可以想成一根前端削尖的長棍。牛不肯走，農夫就站到牠後面戳一下。牛不是想走才走，是被戳了才走。這根棍子叫 g…更多收起
goad 可以想成一根前端削尖的長棍。牛不肯走，農夫就站到牠後面戳一下。牛不是想走才走，是被戳了才走。這根棍子叫 goad，戳的動作也叫 goad。後來被戳的對象從牲口換成人，戳的東西也從棍子換成話、換成期限、換成別人開出的條件。畫面沒有換：有人在後面戳一下，前面那個才動起來。也因為這樣，被 goad 推去做的事，常常是他本來沒打算做的。From the word’s history
Wiktionary traces goad to Old English gād, the pointed stick itself, and further back to a root carrying the sense of urging on or throwing. So the modern figurative use did not invent the picture; it inherited a real tool.
Wiktionary 記載 goad 來自古英文 gād，本義就是趕牲口的尖棍，再往前的字根帶有「往前趕、投擲」的意思。所以今天「用話刺激人」的比喻，是從一根真實的棍子走過來的，不是後人硬掰出來的畫面。
Wiktionary entry for goad (kaikki extract supplied in this packet, source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:645189833)
Two branches
用話或壓力把人推去做事
把尖棍換成話、期限或別人開出的條件，把牲口換成人，其他都沒變：一樣是從後面戳，一樣是被戳了才動。
verb · C1
To keep pushing at someone with words — teasing them, daring them, criticising them, or urging them on — until they finally do the thing, often something they did not want to do.
激；慫恿