1
general::
Phrase(s): not touch someone or something with a ten-foot pole
Cliché not to have anything to do with someone or something. (Always negative.) • No, I won’t hire Fred. I wouldn’t touch him with a ten-foot pole. • I wouldn’t touch that job with a ten-foot pole.
McGrawhill's American Idioms And Phrasal Verbs
2
general::
Stay far away from, avoid completely, as in Ronald wouldn't touch raw oysters with a ten-foot pole. This expression dates from the mid-1700s, when it began to replace the earlier not to be handled with a pair of tongs. In the 1800s barge-pole was sometimes substituted for ten-foot pole, but that variant has died out.
American Heritage Idioms