single word requests - Is there an idiom for people who boast too much?


I am looking for idioms or informal/slang/colloquial expression for some people that make you think that they are able of building a skyscraper, constructing a spaceship, playing the piano better than Mozart or something very fancy that requires remarkable skills, but when it comes to practice they prove to be completely inadequate.



Answer



There are tons of them. There's a whole sub-genre based roughly off the phrase "all talk (and no substance)". These generally have the form "all X, no Y".


Others culled from synonyms on the wictionary link below include:



  • All bark and no bite.

  • All booster, no payload.

  • All bubbles, no bath.

  • All crown, no filling.

  • All foam, no beer.

  • All ham, no let. (For you fans of The Bard)

  • All hammer, no nail.

  • All icing, no cake.

  • All lime and salt, no tequila.

  • All mouth and no trousers. (A corruption of All mouth and trousers)

  • All shot, no powder.

  • All show, no go.

  • All sizzle and no steak.

  • All talk, no walk.

  • All wax and no wick. (Alternatively All wick and no wax)


My personal favorite from cattle country here in the USA is to say that a person is all hat and no cattle.


As a note to outsiders, for some people wearing a cowboy hat has become something of a cultural statement. Thus many people wear them who, if confronted with an actual cow, would have no clue which end the "moo" comes out.


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