[General] toss off

[vil]

Dear teachers,

Would you tell me whether I am right with my interpretation of the expression in bold in the following sentence?

Somehow Demme, Lumet, and Hathaway give us a sympathetic view of her without ever allowing us to forget that she is the first relative we would toss off the ark.

toss off = to produce something easily or quickly

Thank you for your efforts.

Regards,

V.

 

[Munch]

Dear teachers,

Would you tell me whether I am right with my interpretation of the expression in bold in the following sentence?

Somehow Demme, Lumet, and Hathaway give us a sympathetic view of her without ever allowing us to forget that she is the first relative we would toss off the ark.

toss off = to produce something easily or quickly

Thank you for your efforts.

Regards,

V.

No, in this case "toss" means "throw", so "toss off" means "throw off" or "throw out of".

If you are interested, the writer is talking about Anne Hathaway's character in the movie Rachel Getting Married.

I was worried when I opened this thread that it would involve the vulgar meaning of the phrase "toss off".

 

[riquecohen]

I was worried when I opened this thread that it would involve the vulgar meaning of the phrase "toss off".

I`ve never heard a vulgar meaning for "toss off?" Is that particularly Australian?

 

[Rover_KE]

I`ve never heard a vulgar meaning for "toss off?" Is that particularly Australian?

No - it's British too. It means masturbate (= jerk off etc).

Rover

 

[vil]

Hi Munch,

Thank you for your kindness.

Owing to your indication I was acquainted with the context of the key sentence in my original post above.

For all that, I’ve taken up enough of your time; I would make myself clearer adducing the following sentences:

1. Bob coughed so hard he tossed his blanked off.

2. Tom tossed off his jacket and sat down to watch television..

3. We would toss off an ark for her

4. I tossed off the present article in only an hour

5. Noah and his family tossed off the Ark with conformity of the detailed God’s instruction.

Sure enough the meaning of the “toss off” in the sentences 1 and 2 is “to throw something off (of oneself), but in my humble opinion the meaning of the expression in question is most likely to be “to produce something easily or quickly” or “ knock together”, “patch up” and even “fabricate”

V.

 

[Munch]

Hi Munch,

Thank you for your kindness.

Owing to your indication I was acquainted with the context of the key sentence in my original post above.

For all that, I’ve taken up enough of your time; I would make myself clearer adducing the following sentences:

1. Bob coughed so hard he tossed his blanked off.

2. Tom tossed off his jacket and sat down to watch television..

3. We would toss off an ark for her

4. I tossed off the present article in only an hour

5. Noah and his family tossed off the Ark with conformity of the detailed God’s instruction.

Sure enough the meaning of the “toss off” in the sentences 1 and 2 is “to throw something off (of oneself), but in my humble opinion the meaning of the expression in question is most likely to be “to produce something easily or quickly” or “ knock together”, “patch up” and even “fabricate”

V.

Sentence 2 sounds natural to me. 1 is perhaps OK but I would not use the phrase that way - "toss off" to me implies intentional actions, not something that might happen as a result of coughing. 3 and 4 sound strange for some reason - maybe it is just me though.

Maybe you are right, but I still doubt that is the intended meaning. First, to "toss off" meaning to "make something quickly" is less common than to mean simply "throw off".

But the real reason I interpreted the sentence the way I did is the structure of the sentence. It says we get a sympathetic view of her, but she is still the first person we would toss off the ark. It does not make sense to say:

We can "make the make the ark quickly" her. Grammatically, it does not fit. Also, how does "making something quickly" relate to "a sympathetic view"?

In my opinion, the sentence is clear at least as far as saying:

We get a sympathetic view but we still think she is annoying.

In your interpretation, who is making the ark and why?

 

[vil]

Hi Munch,

I see what you mean.

Thank you again for your contribution to my desperate attempt to learn English.

V.