the.com/handout
A gift that insists it's not charity, right up until you read the fine print.
means Something given free—money, food, or printed information—especially from an organization or official source to those in need or to an audience.
from A straightforward compound from 'hand' plus 'out,' first describing food or money given to the poor or needy, then stretching in the 20th century to cover press releases and classroom papers—anything 'handed out' rather than earned.
- origin
- 1920s slang for food given to tramps
- classroom version
- guaranteed to be lost by Tuesday
- euphemism rank
- politicians prefer subsidy, same thing
- paradox
- free to take, costly to need