All talk and no trousers

Click here for the definition of this idiom.

Tdol, this is British English only right? I have never heard that in American English. Thanks;-)

It's British English. ;-)

we have a similar one in my mother tongue.

(something like) "It only thunders but never rains"...

The "trousers" part gives away its British roots immediately. ;-) (I learned the hard way to stop referring to my trousers as "pants" when I was in the UK.)

"All talk and no action" would seem to be the American equivalent of this idiom.

Another American speaker suggested this : http://www.usingenglish.com/referenc...no+cattle.html

We've got this idiom in our language I mean similar to it

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tdol

Another American speaker suggested this : http://www.usingenglish.com/referenc...no+cattle.html

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That's an Americanism, all right. Specifically, Texan.

;-)

I've heard a possibly related idiom - 'all mouth and trousers', meaning vociferous and blustering in a particularly male way (brimming with testosterone ;-))

b

PS oops - just read Tdol's original link.

It seems that it started life in the north as 'all mouth and trousers' and picked up a negative on its way south. ;-)