Throw someone a bone

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

If someone throws you a bone, always try to get more.
(Photo: Priscilla Du Preez/Unsplash | Text: David/ArtisanEnglish.jp)

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Idiom: Throw someone a bone

The Rolling Stones said You can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need.

Unfortunately, that’s not the way things really go.

You may not get what you want, but someone may throw you a bone instead.

It means that if you complain, someone may offer you something cheap or easy to get you to shut up.

For example, Japanese people have traditionally worked long hours.

For this reason, many men have missed witnessing their children grow up.

It’s hard to spend quality time with your children if you’re always at the office.

To prevent these ‘samurai’ from complaining, companies threw them a bone in the form of twice-yearly bonuses.

Now change is well underway.

Full-time employment and bonuses are quickly becoming a distant memory for most of the working population.

These days, companies don’t even bother to throw you a bone anymore.

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During my time working in Japanese high schools as an ALT, my salary dropped from ¥250,000 to ¥140,000 a month over six years.

The company did throw us a bone, though, in the form of a ￥10,000 bonus for the Bon holiday.

See what I mean?

When someone throws you a bone, they choose something cheap and easy for them to do in the hopes that it will shut you up.

I found that insulting and finally reached the end of my rope.

That’s why I am now proud to be self-employed.

Bones are cheap. They are usually the things we throw away.

When someone throws you a bone, be sure to ask yourself what you lose by accepting it.

This post is understandable by someone with at least a 7th-grade education (age 12).

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