doubt about an idiom

[Gloria Carvalho]

I would like to know the meaning of the idiom "wear down the stones"

[Anglika]

Welcome to the forums - I think we need more context.

[MrPedantic]

One google has:

1. Impunity for crime here drives parents to “wear down the stones of public squares,” in the words of a Honduran mother searching for her abducted son.

Here, "stones" represents the surface of the road or pavement; the phrase "wear down the stones of public squares" is an example of hyperbole, and means "to walk very often in public squares, to such an extent that one's feet wear out the surface".

(But yours may be a different context!)

MrP

[Gloria Carvalho]

Thank you.
Here is the context: "Picking up culture without a degree is rather like doing Venice withoout a guide book. You may not have anyone to advise you where to look for the highlights so you are forced to find them for yourself. And you will be freer to form an original opinion, uncoloured by those who wore down the stones before you".

[Anglika]

Metaphorically: Those who have been there before you/have studied the same things before you.

[Gloria Carvalho]

Thank you very much. It helped me a lot.