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Anonymous Posted 21 years ago
Vocabulary

claiming ignorance

hi
I have been trying to figure out one Cowboy Junkies song - Cold Tea Blues. There is one sentence that is not clear to me...
what does an idiom( or is it a saying?) "Claiming ignorance of taste " mean? and in what other ways you can use it?
thanks in advance,
minna
  

Top answer

Here's the lyric: If I pour your cup, that is friendship If I add your milk, that is manners If I stop there, claiming ignorance of taste, That is tea But if I measure the sugar To satisfy your expectant tongue Then that is love, But if I measure the sugar To satisfy your expectant tongue Then that is love, Sitting untouched and growing cold. 'Claiming ignorance of taste' here seems to mean 'claiming I don't know how you like your tea'. In other words, if he stopped 'there', he would be leaving her to add the 'sugar' herself.

— MrPedantic

  • Here's the lyric: If I pour your cup, that is friendship If I add your milk, that is manners If I stop there, claiming ignorance of taste, That is tea But if I measure the sugar To satisfy your expectant tongue Then that is love, But if I measure the sugar To satisfy your expectant tongue Then that is love, Sitting untouched and growing cold.
  • 'Claiming ignorance of taste' here seems to mean 'claiming I don't know how you like your tea'.
  • In other words, if he stopped 'there', he would be leaving her to add the 'sugar' herself.
  • Knowing how much sugar she likes, and then adding it, seems to be an indicator of 'love', from the singer's point of view.
  • ) There may be other interpretations out there though...
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2 Answers
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Here's the lyric:

If I pour your cup, that is friendship
If I add your milk, that is manners
If I stop there, claiming ignorance of taste,
That is tea

But if I measure the sugar
To satisfy your expectant tongue
Then that is love,
But if I measure the sugar
To satisfy your expectant tongue
Then that is love,
Sitting untouched and growing cold.
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