fine words butter no parsnips

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

• US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  Play

Attested as early as 1639 as faire words butter noe parsnips, alluding to the English habit of buttering foods to make them more palatable. It was found in the 17th century in various forms with the first and last word being different, thus allowing combinations of fine/fair/soft with parsnips/cabbage/fish/connie before becoming standardized in the form fine words doth butter no parsnips.

6 source translations are retained for this English entry.

• Dutch: praatjes vullen geen gaatjes — talking about doing something does not get it done
• Finnish: ei suuret sanat suuta halkaise — talking about doing something does not get it done
• German: von schönen Worten kann man sich nichts kaufen — talking about doing something does not get it done
• Italian: le belle parole non danno da mangiare — talking about doing something does not get it done
• Norwegian Bokmål: det hjelper ikke med snakk — talking about doing something does not get it done
• Polish: słowami się nie najesz — talking about doing something does not get it done