> From: Jed Rothwell > Now that you mention it, I wonder what "throw in the > towel" refers to?
As already stated by others I believe it refers to when in a boxing match the trainer throws in the towel to the ring when it looks obvious to him that his fighter is being beaten to a bloody pulp by the opponent. Throwing in the towel tells the referee to stop the fight (they admit defeat). > The Japanese expression is similar in meaning, but > grimmer. In Japanese it is, "saji wo nageru." A saji, or > spoon, was seldom used at the dining table > in the old days. It was more often used by a doctor to > give a patient medicine. When the doctor was confronted > with a patient in a hopeless condition, and he could do > nothing more, he would "toss away the spoon." It > has come to mean "give up" or "stop trying to deal with > a hopeless mess." > > This sort of thing appeals to my morbid sense of humor, > along with Charles Addams cartoons, viz. "Deathray > fiddlesticks. It's not even slowing them down." > > - Jed There are worse vices to have. ;-) I like Adams. I always remember the one where the wife is sitting in the back porch of a mansion what is obviously located in a deep jungle setting somewhere. She says with some impatience "Stop mumbling Georege! What are you trying to say." Behind her (and out of her sight) is an anaconda that has just swallowed her husband as we can see the rather large lump in the middle of the snake. Regards, Steven Vincent Johnson
