# "Throw" a party??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 4, 2004, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522 "2004-07-04T18:47:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/1 "2004-07-04T18:47:40Z")
Or a BBQ, aka “cookout”. Happy 4th! 🙂 How in the world did that usage come to be? I can figure the other usages for the word (there’s a bunch), but this one throws me. Maybe back in the day a caveperson would throw a stick at his/her neighbor to invite the family over? Peace, mangeorge ---
**Author:** ![danceswithcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9e8a1a/32.png) [@danceswithcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/danceswithcats)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/2 "2004-07-04T19:18:37Z")
throw - O.E. þrawan “to twist, turn writhe” (pt. þreow, pp. þrawen), from P.Gmc. \*thræ-, from PIE \*ter-. Not found in Scand. or Gothic. The original sense may be of whirling a missile before throwing it. The sense of “put by force” (throw in jail) is first recorded 1560; that of “to confuse, flabbergast” is from 1844; that of “lose deliberately” is from 1868. Throw-back “revision to an ancestral type or character” is from 1856. Throwaway as a modifier dates from 1928. To throw the book at (someone) is 1932, from notion of judge sentencing a criminal from a law book full of possible punishments. To throw (one’s) hat in the ring “issue a challenge,” esp. to announce one’s candidacy, first recorded 1917. (Courtesy Online Etymology Dictionary) My guess is the “put by force” definition has come to have the additional meaning of which you query, e.g. ‘You’re going to do such and such.’ ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/3 "2004-07-04T19:33:39Z")
It’s idiomatic usage, with no real connection to “to throw” in the sense of “hurl, toss” (though some thrown parties result in tossed cookies! ;)) I was driving with my son, with us both smoking and the windows up, a few years ago. Noting that the smoke buildup was a bit intense, I told him, “Crack your window” – the phrase being idiomatic, at least in our circle, for “open your window a fraction of an inch.” He grinned, made a fist, and drew back his arm as if to punch the window with it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/4 "2004-07-04T19:35:03Z")
The online OED cites it as a US useage, dating from 1922. In _Babbitt_ by Sinclair Lewis. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/5 "2004-07-04T19:47:26Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > It’s idiomatic usage, with no real connection to “to throw” in the sense of “hurl, toss” (though some thrown parties result in tossed cookies! ;)) > > I was driving with my son, with us both smoking and the windows up, a few years ago. Noting that the smoke buildup was a bit intense, I told him, “Crack your window” – the phrase being idiomatic, at least in our circle, for “open your window a fraction of an inch.” He grinned, made a fist, and drew back his arm as if to punch the window with it. 🙂 Thanks a lot. _Now_ you’ve got me wonderimg about “crack” a joke and "smart crack. 😛 I think “crack a window” is pretty universal, at least in the US. Idioms rule, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/6 "2004-07-04T20:28:26Z")
Can’t find any cites, but maybe it started as “throw a party together”, and eventually got shortened to simply throwing the party. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/7 "2004-07-04T21:13:07Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > _Now_ you’ve got me wondering about “crack” a joke… Oddly enough, my 1879 _Ogilvie’s_ lists this definition: > [@](#): > > (verb transitive) _To thrust out, or cast with smartness – “to crack a joke.”_ Back to throwing stuff. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/8 "2004-07-04T21:20:34Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > Can’t find any cites, but maybe it started as “throw a party together”, and eventually got shortened to simply throwing the party. Perhaps akin to tossing ingredients in a bowl, stirring them up and serving the result. Ingredients in this case being:food, drinks, music, games, etc. ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2004, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/9 "2004-07-04T23:42:39Z")
An athlete, or a team, can also ‘throw’ a game. That’s not usually a good thing. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/10 "2004-07-05T00:06:55Z")
Nobody ever says “Chuck a party”. Or do they? Texans? ---
**Author:** ![citrus\_x\_paradisi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@citrus\_x\_paradisi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/citrus_x_paradisi)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/11 "2004-07-05T00:10:19Z")
Well, you just have to look at the etymology of the words. “Party” is derived from “pãrthëi,” which was the trans-Slavic term for a large, spiked metal ball. What? They had different ways to pass the time back in the Dark Ages. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![ZombiesAteMyBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ZombiesAteMyBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZombiesAteMyBrain)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/12 "2004-07-05T00:34:08Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > It’s idiomatic usage, with no real connection to “to throw” in the sense of “hurl, toss” (though some thrown parties result in tossed cookies! ;)) Well, to put it another way, some of the parties that I’ve been to have ended with one or more people ‘throwing up’ ---
**Author:** ![Dancing\_Fool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/59ef9b/32.png) [@Dancing\_Fool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dancing_Fool)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/13 "2004-07-05T01:23:53Z")
It also seems to be mostly a US usage, although TV and Movies are spreading it around the world, like many other US oddities. Like “fix” a meal. What, it’s broken or something? DancingFool ---
**Author:** ![MartinL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@MartinL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MartinL)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2004, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/14 "2004-07-05T14:45:03Z")
This use of the word “throw” is not unique to the US, not even to English. The German idiom “eine Party schmeissen” literally means “to throw a party” and has been around for quite some time. As I understand it, it has to do with “throwing something in”, either literally or throwing in a comment, as one’s 2c, for what it’s worth, the others may take it or leave it. You throw a party into society life and see whether people accept the invitation. On review, this does not sound as clever as I thought, but I’ll still throw it in. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/15 "2004-07-06T05:42:12Z")
> [@Dancing Fool](#): > > Like “fix” a meal. What, it’s broken or something? Actually, “to fix” in the more general sense of “to repair” is a relatively new usage. In the strictest sense, it just means “to put in place.” (Eg; sailors might temporarily “fix” a broken yardarm by lashing the two pieces together.) So “fixing supper” is placing the various components in one place for consumption – some of which might have been running around of their own volition in the yard. 😃 As an aside, “Setting the table” has a similar sense. The etymology is from the Saxon, _settan_ “to cause to sit.” Both the expressions are rooted in mealtimes’ past history as times of repose. Quaint, innit? ---
**Author:** ![ltfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@ltfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ltfire)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/16 "2004-07-06T20:27:36Z")
Take a nap. Take a hike. Take a shower. Take a walk. Take me out to the ballgame. Take a crap. No, wait, don’t. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2004, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/throw-a-party/253522/17 "2004-07-06T23:26:34Z")
Hock up a loogie. Loogie lag. What Place _is_ This.