What meaning is "toss him or her the keys"?

fl

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Nov 14, 2013, 10:31:47 PM11/14/13

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Hi,

I see the following comments on a forum, but I do not understand it. Could you explain it to me? Thanks

.....................................

I think he should spend his weekend asking around for a recommendation on a good professional financial advisor and show up at his door at 8am on Monday morning to toss him or her the keys.

Pablo

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Nov 15, 2013, 4:02:10 AM11/15/13

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Do you not have a dictionary?

--

Pablo

http://www.ipernity.com/home/313627
http://paulc.es/

Anton Shepelev

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Nov 15, 2013, 4:28:15 AM11/15/13

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fl:

> What meaning is "toss him or her the keys"?

Pass the keys to him or to her by throwing them
across a short distance.

--
() ascii ribbon campaign - against html e-mail
/\ www.asciiribbon.org - against proprietary attachments

alien8er

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Nov 15, 2013, 4:35:02 AM11/15/13

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Literally, the phrase usually refers to car keys, meaning let the other person drive. In the cited phrase, it's a metaphor for letting the financial advisor handle the man's finances.

Dr. HotSalt

Opinicus

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Nov 15, 2013, 6:24:34 AM11/15/13

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Similar to "Throw mama from the train a kiss".

--
Bob
www.kanyak.com

fl

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Nov 15, 2013, 7:57:53 AM11/15/13

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I do know the word latterly, but I have difficulties on accurate understanding the author's intention for such a indirect way.

"Literally, the phrase usually refers to car keys, meaning let the other person drive. In the cited phrase, it's a metaphor for letting the financial advisor handle the man's finances."

Dr. HotSalt helps me a lot. Thanks.

George Hardy

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Nov 15, 2013, 8:21:27 AM11/15/13

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In English, there are two ways to indicate an
indirect object. Word order and preposition.

'to toss him the keys' is the same as 'to
toss the keys to him'. No one would say
'to toss him them'; one would say 'to toss
them to him'.

GFH

Tony Cooper

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Nov 15, 2013, 9:06:22 AM11/15/13

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On Fri, 15 Nov 2013 10:02:10 +0100, Pablo <no...@nowhere.net> wrote:

>fl wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I see the following comments on a forum, but I do not understand it. Could
>> you explain it to me? Thanks
>
>> .....................................
>>
>> I think he should spend his weekend asking around for a recommendation on
>> a good professional financial advisor and show up at his door at 8am on
>> Monday morning to toss him or her the keys.
>
>Do you not have a dictionary?

What word would you have him look up to understand the meaning?

Even with a complete understanding of the meaning of each word, the
meaning of the sentence can be unclear. In this case, there is a
metaphor that must be understood.

The meaning is that the person should turn over his investment
strategy to a professional financial advisor. Tossing the pro the
keys is a way of saying "You drive, I'll just ride along."

--
Tony Cooper - Orlando FL

Pavel314

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Nov 16, 2013, 4:45:57 PM11/16/13

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You have to be careful with this phrase. Years ago, my son and I were canoeing way out in the Florida Everglades on a windy day. I wasn't sure of where to go so I called to him, "Toss me the map." He tossed it back to me from his seat in the front of the canoe, the wind caught it, and our only way back to civilization started slowly sinking into the water. I managed to recover it with my paddle before it was lost and we were more careful on our phrasing after that.

alien8er

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Nov 16, 2013, 7:41:09 PM11/16/13

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On Friday, November 15, 2013 4:57:53 AM UTC-8, fl wrote:
> On Friday, November 15, 2013 4:02:10 AM UTC-5, Pablo wrote:
>
> > fl wrote:
>
> > > Hi,
>
> > > I see the following comments on a forum, but I do not understand it. Could
> > > you explain it to me? Thanks
>
> > > .....................................
>
> > > I think he should spend his weekend asking around for a recommendation on
> > > a good professional financial advisor and show up at his door at 8am on
> > > Monday morning to toss him or her the keys.
>
> > Do you not have a dictionary?
> > --
>

> I do know the word latterly, but I have difficulties on accurate
> understanding the author's intention for such a indirect way.

I was slightly confused by Pablo's response; looking up the individual words will give you their specific meanings, but not necessarily their uses in idioms like tossing keys or their potential metaphoric uses.

Also I am slightly confused by which word you know "latterly"?

> "Literally, the phrase usually refers to car keys, meaning let the other
> person drive. In the cited phrase, it's a metaphor for letting the financial
> advisor handle the man's finances."
>
> Dr. HotSalt helps me a lot. Thanks.

You're welcome. English is replete with idiomatic expressions that can appear deliberately obscure to a non-native speaker. Such expressions differ from one country to another (George Bernard Shaw famously commented upon Britain and America being separated by a common language) and variations on otherwise standard phrasing are also found in regions within countries.

Using national or regional "stock phrases" metaphorically can be doubly confusing. This can lead to confusion among native English speakers as well, so don't feel too bad about yours.

I should point out that such confusion can be entertaining to the point of hilarity, so if someone laughs aloud at your attempts, please don't take offense. Laugh with them (at least smile) and seek clarification so you can expand your facility with the language. I'm reflecting on the first time I visited Texas...

Dr. HotSalt