Throw me something, mister!

“Throw me something, mister!”—a familiar cry along Mardi Gras parade routes, with the implied, “Show me something” on the part of the thrower. Indeed, “showing something” will result in a bonanza of beads. I learned this lesson personally when I attended Mardi Gras in February, 2007. I had a primo spot on the barricades, but I was getting very little “booty.” Finally, a walker with a bag of throws handed me beads directly, stating, “You’re not going to get anything with him behind you.” The “him” behind me was a man sporting fake plastic women’s breasts.

It is Mardi Gras season again, so I thought I would look at the word “throw.” Many people know about the beads, coins, and other trinkets thrown off of parade floats and balconies in the French Quarter, but many people don’t know that these trinkets are called “throws,” I assume because they are thrown. The most coveted throw used to be Zulu coconuts.

Thinking of Mardi Gras throws reminded me of idiomatic uses of the word throw, as in “throw a party.” Many people throw caution to the wind when they throw a party to celebrate Mardi Gras, or other events. Someone may throw someone a bone by throwing a party in order to curry favor. If the party is a surprise party, then the honoree may be thrown for a loop. Someone expecting a party that does not materialize might throw a fit. If the party is hastily arranged, it would be thrown together. At that party, the end result of drinking too much might be throwing up. Actually, the first slang usage of “throw” which the Chamber’s Slang Dictionary lists is throwing up as in vomiting.

Regardless of what you may throw this Mardi Gras season, laissez-les bons temps rouler!

LAGNIAPPE: For an op/ed account of my trip to Mardi Gras in February, 2007, published in the Albany Times Union, click on this link: Mardi Gras brings a renewed hope. 

LAGNIAPPE: 3 March marks the one-year anniversary of "Be-Worded." To all of my readers, I wish you another year filled with fascinating and thought-provoking words!