all talk and no action

English

Alternative forms

• all talk, no action

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

all talk and no action (uncountable)

1. (informal) Speaking, promising, or boasting much, but doing little; overpromising, but underdelivering.
   • 2015 June 16, Donald Trump, “Transcript: Donald Trump announces his presidential candidacy”, in CBS News‎^[1]:

     Well, you need somebody, because politicians are all talk, no action. Nothing's gonna get done. They will not bring us—believe me—to the promised land. They will not.

   • 2017 January 20, Donald Trump, Inauguration Speech:

     We will no longer accept politicians who are all talk and no action—constantly complaining but never doing anything about it.

Derived terms

• all bark and no bite
• all booster, no payload
• all crown, no filling
• all foam, no beer
• all garnish and no meat
• all hammer, no nail
• all hat and no cattle
• all icing, no cake
• all lime and salt, no tequila
• all mouth and no trousers
• all mouth and trousers
• all shot, no powder
• all sing, no dance
• all sizzle and no steak
• all talk
• all talk and no cider
• all talk and trousers
• all talk, no show
• all wax and no wick

Translations

idiom

• Afrikaans: meer bek as binnegoed
• Catalan: molt soroll i poques nous
• Chinese: 光說不做 / 光说不做 (zh) (guāngshuōbùzuò), 只說不做 / 只说不做 (zhǐshuōbùzuò), 光說不幹 / 光说不干 (guāngshuōbùgān), 耍嘴皮子 (zh) (shuǎ zuǐpízi), 雷声大，雨点小 (zh) (léishēng dà, yǔdiǎn xiǎo), 雷聲大，雨點小 / 雷声大，雨点小 (zh) (léishēngdà, yǔdiǎnxiǎo)
• Dutch: veel geschreeuw en weinig wol
• Finnish: paljon puhetta ilman tekoja
• Hebrew: דיבורים כמו חול ואין מה לאכול
• Italian: tutto fumo e niente arrosto, tanto fumo e poco arrosto
• Maori: he kōrero i pahawa, hōhonu waha - pāpaku uaua
• Polish: pozornie groźny; krowa, która dużo ryczy, mało mleka daje (pl) (idiomatic)
• Spanish: mucho hablar y poco hacer, mucho ruido y pocas nueces, mucho lerele y poco larala
• Swedish: Mycket snack och lite verkstad. (sv)

See also

• talk out of one's ass
• talk the talk