throw stones

[JACEK1]

Hello everybody!

Some people don't enjoy doing exercise. They don't like physical training. In this connection, I would like to ask you the following question:

Does "Some people throw stones at physical training" mean "Some people skip physical training as often as possible?"

What is your opinion?

 

[Rover_KE]

No. Where did you get that idea?

 

[JACEK1]

I forgot to write. It was made up by me. The phrase itself is nothing new in Poland. When you throw stones at something, you criticize It.

 

[emsr2d2]

Did you get the idea from the idiom "People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones", meaning "People who aren't perfect in a particular area shouldn't criticise other people in that area". ("Area" here refers to an area of life/work etc, not a physical area.)

 

[JACEK1]

No. I just wanted to make sure that my sentence is properly formulated.

 

[emsr2d2]

It's not. It means nothing. We don't say that someone "throws stones at something" to mean that they criticise it.

 

[JACEK1]

How do you express the thought?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Acrtually, I have often heard (and used) throw stones to mean criticize or verbally attack.

So, no, it doesn't mean skipping exercise. It means saying unkind things about exercise — denigrating it, poo-pooing it, dismissing it, bad-mouthing it.

 

[Skrej]

It's probably a reference to the fact that people will throw stones at something to drive it off.

A longer possibility is that it's a reference to stoning- a severe form of capital punishment.

So if you dislike physical training, you might try to metaphorically drive it away or kill it off. Of course the irony of that metaphor is that throwing stones requires exerting a fair amount of energy, which is dangerously akin to physical training.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

When I worked at a social justice organization, we had a publicity person who often said, "When you write a press release, throw a rock."

He meant that our press releases should confront, attack, or challenge someone: "At a press conference today, the Using English Action Group reported that the district attorney is not prosecuting known book burners."

That's throwing a stone at the district attorney.

 

[sitifan]

Acrtually, I have often heard (and used) throw stones to mean criticize or verbally attack.

So, no, it doesn't mean skipping exercise. It means saying unkind things about exercise — denigrating it, poo-pooing it, dismissing it, bad-mouthing it.

Actually.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Actually.

Yes, actually.