refers to the degree to which someone will stand up for them self or what one is responsible for, or, the degree to which one will go to get the job done. At work, having stones can be career-limiting if the company you work for values
yes men instead of people that can actually get something done right. On film or TV, action heroes typically have major stones. However, you can have stones but
no brains, which can lead to
disastrous consequences if your timing sucks.
Employee (with stones) to Boss (without stones): "Dude, grow some stones and push back on these stupid requests - they are just wasting my time! I can't get this code written in time, you idiot!"
Boss to Employee: "You're FIRED! But, uh, no, uh, wait, that might get me in trouble because you're the only one who knows how to do this job. Uh, what should I do?
Jack Bauer on Fox's 24 has some major stones to stop terrorist attacks pretty much all by himself. In real life, it takes all 170,000 employees of the
Department of Homeland Security to thwart these attacks.
Husband to Wife at a mixer: "Go get me another Bud. Oh, and you need to pick up the pace on those back rubs – I could use one right now, woman, my lower back is killing me."
Wife: Stunned
Wife’s friend to Wife: “Your husband is a jerk. Sounds like it’s time for some more Exlax brownies for his lunch.”
Wife: “You got that right - he still thinks the last batch really was a
mint chocolate brownie mix.”
