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Reader question: Please explain “throwing them a bone” in these passages (Why your boss smiling at you is bad news, Business-Standard.com, October 15, 2017): The researchers believe that people who feel powerful try to exert their dominance by not appearing too friendly to those who might be a threat. They have no such qualms about appearing approachable to those who lack authority. “Our interpretation of this is that when you are feeling powerful and see a low-status person, you are almost throwing them a bone, thinking ‘Oh, I should smile at this person because I’m better than them’,” said researcher Evan Carr. My comments: I’ve written about someone throwing a bone before (on January 13, 2017) but this is such a good question that I don’t mind doing it again. OK, people throw a bone to a hungry dog, so there. A bone is something for the dog to chew on, but there’s really not a lot of meat on it. And so even though the bone-throwing is a generous act, the generosity is limited. So it is with people throwing other people a bone. It shows kindness and generosity but perhaps one shouldn’t read much into it – in the same way the dog cannot get much out of a meatless bone. In other words, the bone is a consolation but perhaps little consolation after all, when all is said and done. Anyways, throwing people a bone is an idiom that’s inspired from observing people’s treatment of dogs. | 
