What is the meaning of the phrase “ It’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight” and how did it originate?
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What is the meaning of the phrase “ It’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight” and how did it originate?
You can check the answer of the people under the question at Quora “speaker cult knife“
About Lilybelle
It means “to be ill-prepared” for a conflict or an interaction with someone. It originated as a pithy expression with strong imagery that caught on.
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It means analogous to bringing an ineffective tool to do a difficult task (like trying to drive a nail using a screwdriver or pair of pliers). A person bringing that knife will probably lose that fight.
Likewise, although a highly-skilled carpenter probably could drive a nail with a big pair of pliers, or a highly-skilled street fighter might be very deadly with a knife, the choice of tool or weapon could dramatically affect the outcome.
It’s such a simple analogy that I doubt it has an obvious first documented usage. However , one could guess that given the popularity of the word gunfight in the 1800s (esp . in the rural western frontier of the then-emerging/young USA) and the contemporaneous usage of metal knives (and metal guns) by pioneers, soldiers and others, I would guesstimate it originated in an old western-U.S.-territory tavern (in the greater Louisiana purchase region) circa 1850s or 1860s.
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It was an old joke. About this guy that went into a bar and got into a fight. They went outside and the guy started to swing at the other. The other pulled a knife. Number one took off and got a knife. Went back. Called the other guy out. Pulled his knife out and started toward the other guy. Other guy pulled out a gun. “Dumbass, you brought a knife to a gunfight”. The first guy would be an ethnic character or blonde. Choose your own victim.
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The meaning of the phrase “It’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight” is that one is inadequately prepared for a conflict. A knife is a deadly weapon, but a person with a gun has an inherent advantage: he can shoot the knife fighter before the knife fighter can get close enough to wound him.
The origin of the phrase is unclear, but it has now become a cliche.
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Use this resource for idiomatic phrases:
Don’t bring a knife to a gunfight
Here’s a discussion of usage of the phrase in movies and the media:
Origin of “knife to a gunfight” quote
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The phrase means doing or attempting something that is totally ineffectual given the situation. Imagine any kind of gunfight and you have a knife. You are (at least in theory) totally outclassed. You don’t even have a chance of winning. I don’t know what the actual origin of the phrase is though.
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It is a figure of speech that means being ill-prepared to deal with a certain situation.
Imagine having having a knife, when what you really need is a gun. Things are not going to turn out in your favor.
I don’t know where the saying originated, but it’s been used in the movies lots of times. Perhaps the first movie it was used in was The Untouchables (1987), where the other guy literally only had a knife.
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Picture the scene in the Old West — Dodge City, Tombstone, even Westworld (!). Two beat-up and probably drunken cowboys have agreed to a shootout on Main Street. The seconds tick down… until an onlooker yells, “ Draw! ”
One guy pulls a six-shooter from his holster and starts to apply pressure to the trigger. The other guy pulls… a knife. The gun fires six times; because the shooter is drunk, only two bullets hit the other guy. But THAT guy, shot twice, lies dead in the dust — the knife still clutched loosely in his fingers.
That guy has very stupidly brought a knife to the gunfight. So “[to do whatever] like bringing a knife to a gunfight” means to approach any challenge very, very underprepared for what you’re going to face.
I didn’t know about the origin of the exact phrase. (The notion of going into battle — real or metaphorical — unprepared is very old, of course.) This probably isn’t the origin, but the earliest reference I found, via the Google Ngram Viewer, is in a snippet from a 1987 novel by one Marvin Albert, based on the screenplay of the Kevin Costner film The Untouchables :
Malone’s hand brought out the sawed-off shotgun, his finger sliding across the trigger as he aimed it.
“Now ain’t that just like a dago,” Malone said pleasantly, “bringing a knife to a gunfight.”
Malone is the “Jim Malone” character played in the film by Sean Connery; according to Wikiquote, the line in the film is “ [chasing a knife-armed thug out of his house with a shotgun] Isn’t that just like a Wop? Brings a knife to a gunfight!”
Hope that helps. Thanks for the A2A!
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Adding to all previous answers (because it’s interesting):
As far as I can tell, it comes from The Untouchables film.
Films
According to searches at Subzin , The Untouchables was the first with this line, but has been emulated in at least 20 other films since 2000.
The Untouchables (1987) 01:21:23 Brings a knife to a gunfight.
The Target Shoots First (2000) 00:17:38 What are you doing, Max? Bringing a knife to a gunfight?
Shottas (2002) 00:18:22 what are you doing, max? bringing a knife to a gunfight?
Duplex (2003) 01:17:10 Who are ya, bringing a knife to a gunfight?
The Punisher (2004) 01:06:55 Bring a knife to a gunfight.
Waist Deep (2006) 00:33:12 Nigga, don’t bring a knife to a gunfight, my…
BloodRayne II: Deliverance (2007) 00:28:09 Ain’t it like an Irishman to bring a bottle to a gunfight.
Dod vid ankomst (2008) 00:59:29 How typical of you, bringing a knife to a gun fight.
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) Nice try kid, but I think you just brought a knife. To a gunfight.
The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day (2009) 00:35:47 That’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight. / Yeah, or like bringing a really small gun to a gunfight.
The Good Guy (2009) 00:37:24 Never take a knife to a gunfight, mate.
Wonderful World (2009) 00:26:00 Never bring a knife to a gunfight.
Death Hunter (2010) 00:50:49 Just like a rookie to bring a knife to a gun fight.
Including some variations on the theme:
The Glimmer Man (1996) 00:16:59 It’s kind of like takin’ a screwdriver to a gunfight.
Black Cat Run (1998) 00:32:40 A crow bar to a gun fight? Drop the fucking crowbar.
Urban Justice (2007) 01:27:07 l know you ain’t dumb enough to bring a fist to a gunfight.
G-Force (2009) 01:12:27 [Speckles] Just like humans. Bringing guns to a space junk fight.
Unrivaled (2010) 00:28:46 you brought a knife to a bottle fight.
Cross (2011) 00:08:06 Genius. Brings sticks to a gunfight.
Books
The Untouchables film is based on the 1957 book of the same name, but it doesn’t seem like the quote comes from the book.
The first use of the phrase I could find in Google Books is in 1989, after the film came out: in a fishing magazine and a book called Texas Wit and Wisdom ). It does sound like it could be a Texas phrase.[1]
[1] Origin of “knife to a gunfight” quote researched by Hugo. Jun 9 ’12 at 9:06
Thanks for the A2A.
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