[Idiom] Refusal out of little experience

[Kayeff]

What is idiom when one refuses an offer proposal because one doesn`t understand it fully.

 

[Rover_KE]

Welcome to the forum, Kayeff.

'I'm not going to buy a pig in a poke.'

[click]

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

American singer Tom Waits said: "The big print giveth, and the small print taketh away."

 

[yi-ing]

What does "giveth" and "taketh " mean here?

 

[GoesStation]

What does "giveth" and "taketh " mean here?

They are archaic third-person singular forms of "give" and "take". The modern equivalents are gives and takes. The widely-used King James Version of the Bible uses these forms extensively, including in the book of Job, where you can find the origin of Waits's phrase (though with a mix of tenses).

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

What do "giveth" and "taketh " mean here?

Yes. Waits was riffing on the King James line "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away."

 

[GoesStation]

Yes. Waits was riffing on the King James line "The Lord hath given and the Lord taketh away."

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Well, keep me honest! 10-Q!

 

[Tdol]

How about I can't get my head round it?