My answer got deleted because i referred to illegitimate children by the proper dictionary meaning

I think this saying is similar to "If you give a man a fish, he eats for a day; but if you teach him to fish, he eats for a lifetime". There are times when handouts are truly welcomed, clothing & reading material at nursing homes, clothing and toys for kids being raised by relatives who truly cannot afford to buy them and don't get any monetary support from anyone, food for the elderly who have to choose between their medicines or food. These are a few of them. I just don't care for helping someone who is just too lazy to help themselves.

Trish, that is an awesome example. Thank you. ;>)

Again, you're welcome Donna, glad I was of help.

I see a hot pepper or a Jalapeño

lol, you can hand them to me. I love them. ;>)

me too but I tend to do the BAM thing and go up a notch to Scotch Bonnet Peppers :) HOT!!!!

If you want hot, have you tried the habanero chile. OMG, it is!!!
I once poured the juice in a friends beer, a revenge thing (lol). He was unaware and chugged it. His head turned red, beads of sweat dripped down, and then he got really really p*ss*d!!!

Oh yewwwwwwwwwwwwwwww naughty snike!!! (My best Steve Irwin Voice)

It should be a helping hand for someone that is temporarily down and out which i have no problem with. Veterans are treated very poorly in this country while welfare Moms get housing and cash for popping out a whole litter of Bastards

'member the room DUDE ??? lol

that is what an illegitimate child is called is it not? I just put on my secret mustache glasses

It's not the children's fault, that there mothers have no work ethic and believe that the world owes them a living, but I DO agree about the Vets. I worked in an enviroment, where I saw this daily.

OK for once I actually did laugh out loud and not just spell it!!!!!

Hey Donna,
I've never heard that before, I'm not sure what it means, hand up = asking for help, hand out = receiving help? If my guess is right, then I'd say it would apply to the hungry, they won't have the energy to help, but could do with the help themselves, in particular, hungry children.

Hey 6 ;>)
Trish hit the nail on the head with "Give a man a fish...", but yeah children, should be our first concern, because they don't have a choice.
BTW, it's good to see you.

well i have learned that you can not help a man who will not help himself

A Man or a Woman, YES, very true. Thank you mountain goat.

I've learned that lesson the hard way, some people the more you give the more they take.

A hand up is giving someone, who is doing their best, the help they need to get back on their feet so to speak.
A hand out is giving the same help to someone who expects it and lives off of such gestures without ever trying for themselves.
At least that is what it means when I use the phrase.

Thanks OTC, that is what it means to me too. ;>)

Hand out is for critical situations. Hand up for bad habit chronic

Thank you. ;>) I was seeing a hand up as in "teach them to fish".

I've found over the last 40 years in business that a hand up is a waste of money and time in probably 75% of the cases. I'm willing to pay extra taxes just to have a large percentage of the population stay home.

Geez Orbdeblu, is there nothing that is positive surrounding you? Pay extra taxes, you have to be kidding. ;>)

I remember one employee that because he was such a bad worker (no skills) that he was costing us $50 thousand a day. He even left the reenforcing steel out of a retaining wall.

Ah, so you were in construction. I too have seen many worthless construction workers (in all the trades). I always preferred to work with the unions, they provided a better quality employee. ;>)

thats true.