加拿大同事说警察要“throw the book at him”，我脑子里已经看到法官拿书砸人了……

周一早上在加拿大办公室喝咖啡，同事Mike说起他朋友周末被警察拦下。

“He was speeding, his registration had expired, and he had no proof of insurance.”
“他超速，车辆注册还过期了，而且拿不出保险证明。”

我听着都替他头大。

结果Mike接了一句：
“They’re probably going to throw the book at him.”
“他们估计要throw the book at他了。”

我手里的咖啡差点停在半空。

Throw the book？

我脑子里瞬间出现一幅画面：
法庭上，法官气得站起来，抓起桌上一本厚厚的法律书，“啪”一下朝被告扔过去。

我忍不住问：
“Wait… literally throw a book at him?”
“等等……真的拿书砸他？”

旁边两个同事安静了一秒，然后全笑了。

Mike一脸震惊：
“No! Nobody is throwing anything!”
“不是！没人要扔东西！”

他解释说：
“To throw the book at someone means to punish them as severely as the law allows.”
“意思是对一个人严厉处罚，能按规定处罚的都给他算上。”

我这才反应过来。

原来这里的book不是普通的“书”，更像是“法律条文、规则手册”。
throw the book at someone，就是把规则里能用上的处罚都用上，而不是把《刑法大全》练成暗器。

最尴尬的是，下午另一个同事聊孩子在学校闯祸，说：
“The principal really threw the book at him.”

这次我终于没往校长办公室的书架上看。

不过我现在有点好奇：如果当时是你听到“throw the book at him”，第一秒脑子里会不会也真的飞过去一本书？