Talk:throw him a bone

Specific pronoun

Is this phrase sometimes used in contexts where him would not normally make sense (e.g. in reference to a group of people), or is this just a specific case of throw someone a bone? ExcarnateSojourner (talk) 05:56, 7 October 2021 (UTC)

There is also toss them a bone. ExcarnateSojourner (talk) 05:58, 7 October 2021 (UTC)

This would be throw one a bone under the apparent standard applied to idiomatic phrases (e.g. try one's luck). WordyAndNerdy (talk) 06:45, 8 October 2021 (UTC)

My understanding is that when the pronoun refers to the speaker to the person(s) taking the action, one should be used (as in try one's luck and take one's hook), and when it does not, someone should be used (as in drive someone crazy and set someone's teeth on edge). Do you disagree? - ExcarnateSojourner (talk) 16:40, 8 October 2021 (UTC)

That makes sense. The convention seems to be to use one/someone where possible, so as to avoid multiple entries and remain gender-neutral. WordyAndNerdy (talk) 17:36, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

RFD discussion: October–December 2021

The following discussion has been moved from Wiktionary:Requests for deletion (permalink).

This discussion is no longer live and is left here as an archive. Please do not modify this conversation, but feel free to discuss its conclusions.

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throw him a bone

The phrase's meaning is covered by throw someone a bone. - excarnateSojourner (talk|contrib) 18:14, 12 October 2021 (UTC)

Speedy redirected to throw someone a bone. I believe this will be uncontroversial, because the standard is to use one or someone in a title, and never specific pronouns for people like him or her. PseudoSkull (talk) 18:44, 12 October 2021 (UTC)

Great, thank you. - excarnateSojourner (talk|contrib) 18:17, 14 October 2021 (UTC)

• Redirect. bd2412 T 18:44, 12 October 2021 (UTC)

Delete the redirect. ·~ dictátor·mundꟾ 12:35, 16 October 2021 (UTC)

Delete the redirect. I really don't understand its logic. "[T]he standard is to use one or someone... and never specific pronouns for people" (agreed), but then why a redirect? It makes more sense to delete it altogether if it is out of line with our standards. Imetsia (talk) 17:52, 17 October 2021 (UTC)

I am also in favour of deleting the redirect (per Imetsia). - excarnateSojourner (talk|contrib) 23:06, 21 October 2021 (UTC)

@Imetsia I don't care enough to adamantly defend this specific redirect or anything, but I'm pretty sure there are other entries where him formations redirect to the one formation. I can't give any examples offhand, though. PseudoSkull (talk) 21:15, 24 October 2021 (UTC)

Well, then delete all such entries. Imetsia (talk) 21:30, 24 October 2021 (UTC)

@Imetsia There ought to be some precedent that excludes him forms as redirects, then, if you want to be consistent. That could be brought up as a vote perhaps, at the Beer parlour, etc. However, I'd weak oppose that in said discussion, because while I don't think it's exceedingly important, it is true that people way more often say him than one in these phrases. You could easily demonstrate this for any number of phrases in Ngram, so there is a likelihood that the him form will be searched for. PseudoSkull (talk) 23:30, 24 October 2021 (UTC)

Delete the redirect. It's not consistent. --Fytcha (talk) 08:49, 24 October 2021 (UTC)

• Are redirects less cheap here than on Wikipedia? bd2412 T 21:18, 24 October 2021 (UTC)

Keep all such redirects. Anything that can reduce the risk of newcomers creating duplicates by ignorance of our conventions is good to have. PUC – 10:54, 25 October 2021 (UTC)

I too support the redirect. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 04:39, 4 December 2021 (UTC)

Keep the redirects, like we do for other entries where the entry is at a "genericized" title with "one" or "someone" (or no pronoun) but the phrase is most commonly used with specific pronouns and that's what people can be expected to look up; examples include take him down and of his word. - -sche (discuss) 16:50, 5 December 2021 (UTC)

RFD discussion: February–March 2023

See Talk:toss them a bone#RFD discussion: February–March 2023.