bring a knife to a gunfight

English

Alternative forms

• take a knife to a gunfight

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Verb

bring a knife to a gunfight (third-person singular simple present brings a knife to a gunfight, present participle bringing a knife to a gunfight, simple past and past participle brought a knife to a gunfight)

1. (idiomatic) To enter into a confrontation or other challenging situation without being adequately equipped or prepared.
   • 1987, David Mamet, The Untouchables‎^[1]:

     Isn't that just like a wop? Brings a knife to a gun fight.

   • 1994, Gus Lee, China Boy‎^[2], →ISBN, page 310:

     That is why one should never bring a knife to a gunfight, a worm should not challenge Godzilla, and a chump should never box a boxer.

   • 2006, Jeff Edwards, Torpedo‎^[3], →ISBN, page xiii:

     [W]e can shoot down missiles. . . . Our Kingfisher sonars can detect mines. . . . Our ships are hardened against chemical and biological weapons. But how do you stop a torpedo? . . . The best engineers in the business agree that nearly every class of torpedo currently being deployed has the capacity to sink one of our ships with a single shot. . . . [W]e are the poor bastards that brought a knife to a gunfight.

Translations

to be inadequately equipped

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 拿著雞蛋碰石頭／拿著鸡蛋碰石头, 拿着鸡蛋碰石头 (ná zhe jīdàn pèng shítou, literally “hit stones with eggs”)

• Finnish: lähteä soitellen sotaan (literally “go to war playing music”)
• Polish: przychodzić nieprzygotowany impf, przyjść nieprzygotowany pf
• Russian: про́тив ло́ма нет приёма (prótiv lóma net prijóma, literally “there is no wrestling technique blocking a crowbar”)
• Spanish: a la guerra sin fusil (literally “to war without ammunition”)

See also

• fight fire with fire
• use a sledgehammer to crack a nut