I came across the phrase ‘toss a bone’ in the headline of the New York Times article (July 15) in its Business section that reads “As a Watchdog Starves, Wall Street Is Tossed a Bone.”
I checked dictionaries at hands to find no entry of this idiom, though I found ‘cast a bone between’ and ‘throw a bone,’ neither of which seems to be near ‘toss a bone.’
In this search, I found the phrase appearing in the lyrics of Confederate Railroad in Youtube that goes:
"So toss a little bone to the working man
Make it a law that we all get a raise
And prices go a little l…"
From the context of the headline of NYT article and the foregoing Confederate Railroad lyrics, I guess ‘toss a bone’ implies ‘to give a bate, or little reward (incentive) to somebody.’ Am I right?
Is ‘toss a bone to somebody’ a popular English (or American) phrase apart from the Confederate Railroad’s song?.
Best Answer
Tossing a bone to someone is usually done out of pity or by someone with significantly more power over the situation. The imagery is akin to feeding someone table scraps. It isn't usually done as a reward, per se, although begging for a bone or trying to convince the powers that be that you deserve it is common.
I do agree that it is usually a token amount or something small for the person doing the tossing. It can be considered a big deal for the person on the receiving end; the main gist is that there is a disparity in control.
Throw and toss are interchangeable in the idiom. It is very popular and usually invokes imagery of dogs — thus the watchdog pun in the NYT article. In this particular case, the author wishes to compare the situations of the Watchdog and Wall Street. Even though both are in dire times, one is being fed and the other starved. A bone isn't much but it is better than nothing.