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Reader question: What does “punching bag” mean? As in: He doesn’t want to be her punching bag. My comments: He doesn’t want to be the target for criticism. In other words, he doesn’t want her to blame him every time something goes wrong. Punching bag is a stuffed bag people hit for fun and exercise. Boxers, for example, improve their muscle strength by hitting the punching bag hard, and repeatedly. Figuratively speaking, if someone is another’s punching bag, he’s constantly faulted, blamed, criticized if anything goes wrong. If you want to use this term, make sure you use it under the right circumstances. It’s best used, that is, when the attack (verbally) is constant, whether or not the attacked is guilty of the “crimes” they’re accused of committing. And that’s the thing with people being another’s punching bag – they’re attacked even if they’re not responsible for the wrongdoing. The attacker may just be venting and doing it out of habit. They just want to take their anger, anxiety, frustration or what have you out on someone. And that someone is their “punching bag”. For instance, I’ve heard of a young man describing her girlfriend thus: “She blames me for everything. Once she lost her purse on the bus and I was with her, so she blamed me for not taking care of her. Two days ago she lost another purse on the bus and that time I wasn’t with her, so she blames me again, this time for not taking care of her because I wasn’t around when she needed me.” | 
