Difference between "stick with" and "stick to"?
On the forum you linked to, a long catalog of uses was posted at 20-Mar-2008, 08:27. I think that posting makes clear that
- there is no difference between the two phrases in the senses of "continuing to support/accompany/practise/adhere [figuratively] to": stick to/with the plan, stick to/with me, stick to/with your principles
ANOTHER EDIT: You may find one preposition used more often with any particular object stuck to—see bib's response—but this doesn't exclude using the other.
only stick to may be used to signify "cause to adhere to": stick the poster to the wall but not stick the poster with the wall.
only stick with may be used to signify "impose a (relative) burden upon": he stuck me with the bill or she got the fellowship, I was stuck with an assistantship, but to won't work in these.
One more "stick to" idiom occurs to me: *stick it to [someone]", meaning "inflict excessive (physical, emotional, financial &c) pain upon": They had him cornered and really stuck it to him.
EDIT: And another: Stick to [one's] guns, although it fits use 1 above, is a fixed idiom; stick with your guns would mean "continue to accompany your artillery".
The phrases stick with and stick to can both mean continue to support, participate or favor. However there are differences in application.
When talking about an activity, a plan, a tangible or intangible object, the term can have subtly different meanings:
I'm sticking with swimming.
I'm sticking with the plan.
I'm sticking with apples.
I'm sticking with economics.
They all mean I will continue to play, follow, eat or study the focus of my sticking.
However, the phase, sticking to suggest that I'm persevering, but limiting my attention.
I am sticking to swimming.
I am sticking to apples.
This connotes that I will be swimming instead of going out for track, yearbook or some other activity. The pie will not contain pears, just apples.
With regard to people, the phrase sticking with conveys ongoing support.
I'm sticking with fluoride toothpaste.
I'm sticking with Grover Cleveland.
Both convey commitment, to the dental plan or candidate.
However, sticking to with regard to people, means stay close, physically
I am sticking to my kids in their after school activities.
As a parole officer, I am sticking to my parolees like glue.
Oh you can't scare me, I'm stickin' to the union.
And, as Anita said to Maria in West Side Story
A boy like that who'd kill your brother . . . Stick to your own kind
Both exclusionary and staying close.