Why do guys throw things. Almost from birth, I’ll wager, boys will throw almost anything they can pick up. Not always at anything, although that seem’s to add to the joy of it.
I’d like to think it’s instinct (me kill rabbit, etc. eat) but that seems so simplistic.
I guess some girls throw stuff too, but I don’t know if it’s as common.
I’m not talking about sports, although that’s probably related. I’m talking about chucking rocks and the like. Breaking windows. Ahh, the joys of youth.
Peace,
mangeorge
Women throw plenty of things. Dishes, tantrums, bloody coathangers, ill-fitting clothing, engagement rings, darts, lemurs, you name it.
Young males demonstrate more developed eye-hand and locomotor coordination than females of the same age. Throwing is a great way to improve such abilities. Casting stones accurately was once a vital hunting and survival skill. These age old genetic traits now manifest more often in skipping rocks on lakes and rivers.
There’s nothing wrong with it being simplistic, makes a change when so many things are over complicated :-).
Og smash. Too far. Og throw.
Also, If I am trying to solve a problem (coding, math, etc) sometimes I’ll lean back in my chair and throw things (marker, lighter, eraser) at the ceiling. I think it has something to do with spacial reasoning or something.
Also when I get mad at the tv I’ll throw my remotes. (I’ve usually been drinking too though 
)
Nature - for reasons cited above about getting programmed through evolution to place value on accurate throwing. I suspect that evolving a sense of pleasure in the act reinforces the desire to practice, which in turn makes one more accurate, which in turn increased survival rates, and so on…
Nuture - many heroes that children see are rewarded for accurate throwing. Quarterbacks, pitchers, basketball players (scoring is a form of throwing), gun-wielding heroes (shooting is just throwing on steroids), Batman (his batarang) - you get the idea. It all reinforces the power and pleasure of throwing.
Don’t forget the dunking booth at the carnival…there’s a GREAT incentive to learn to throw.
Shooting is a form of throwing, as **WordMan[/b[ says. I mentioned that in one of those gun threads a while back and got yelled at.
Throwing does feel good, but now it hurts, too. So throw, while you still can. Use it or lose it, eh?
My favorite rock? About the size and shape of a small chicken egg. Eggs are good.
Being male - I admit that the urge to throw is quite strong at all times.
As is the urge to swish long objects around.
I’m a thrower. I’m usually pretty laid back, but if something really pisses me off… things start flying.
There is one dis-advantage to my keyboard being cordless.
That it can be thrown. The other day I very very nearly did throw it!
I’m a guy and somehow throwing ‘just feels right’. I do it all the time. Almost never for any real purpose of course.
My favorite throwing item is my cigarette lighter. I just love throwing it straight up in the air at the ceiling and trying to catch it again without looking at it. I’ll sit there and do that for literally seconds before I miss and it goes flying across the room.
When I reach for my cigarettes, and the lighter is lying (laying?) on top of the pack, I almost always throw the lighter at my right hand, then grab the pack with the now-free left. Saves me a fraction of a second of time!
And the good old pack-of-cards-and-a-hat game… I like an UNO deck: MORE CARDS!
Oddly, however, I can’t stand sports. Don’t like baseball, or football, or basketball… lots of throwing in 'em, but I don’t care.
On reflection, there’s something almost hypnotic about watching an item that normally doesn’t do such things floating through the air. To see the lighter, nobody touching it, soaring magestically through reasonably-empty space, and landing right where I wanted it to go… it’s magical.
I suppose it helps to have this lighter habit, too, come to think of it. I’m 32 years old and I’ve got some of the best reflexes of anybody I know (in my age group.) Then again, maybe it’s the video games…
I’ve noticed this at the beach; females tend to collect shells or sit around and take in the surroudings, males head straight for the shoreline and throw stones in the sea.
Note how often men throws keys to toward each other. We almost never hand them to each other, especially car keys.
Just is. Seems fun.
Oh, yeah. You toss them when the other guy isn’t looking and holler “heads up” just before they get there. Especially if there’s a girl around. Make’s him look stupid, and you look really cool.
Nothing like throwing things to clear your head. My dart board get’s a lot of use when I’m feeling a lot of stress, or have some large task that I’m working on. I probably owe my degree to that thing, certianlly got a lot of use around finals week, a quick game of cricket by your self every hour or so while cramming or writing a term paper is the best.
Of course when I’m out in the wilderness any rock I happen across is likely to get thrown, especially if it’s smooth and flat and there’s any body of water within throwing distance. I’ve often killed an hour trying, with some success, to skip rocks across mud puddles when out hiking or camping etc…
When I can get away with it I’m also a big fan of hitting things with a stick. It’s especially fun when you’re up on some mountain ridge looking down on a valley and you start hitting rocks stickball-style. The satisfying crack of the stick as it his the rock, watching it sail a few hundred feet and drop down into the valley below, the screams of pain from fellow hikers below you… ahh good times.
Wanders off to dartboard…
I used to love it when we had no nextdoor neighbours. I could sit and throw a tennis ball against the wall for hours!
I am going to invest in a dartboard.
This place where I live? I used to come here on holiday. To the town of Laxey. One time I was bored out of my mind so I went down to the beach (which is 90% pebbles) I spent hours trying to hit objects(such as drinks cans, other pebbles perched atop bigger pebbles) with pebbles. It was sooooooo theraputic.
I guess it’s the male version of knitting.
I’d do it now, but I’m 24, I’d just look like a big kid (which I have no doubt I am) And I live in Douglas, not Laxey.
I thank you mangeorge for this thread! You have reminded me of what I haven’t been doing anything like enough of lately.
If I’d had a dartboard (or a beach of pebbles) during my University course. I probably would have got the degree my intelect (or programming skill) deserved.