Put their money where their mouth is

Question

Hello, marrows!May you help me? What does "put their money where their mouth is" mean?Thank you.Tim "Life is good, but good life much better".

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Hello, marrows! Hi, cucumber. May you help me?[/nq]
Possibly.
[nq:1]What does "put their money where their mouth is" mean?[/nq]
Pay up front in cash and we might just tell you.
Seriously: What it means is to ask, in fact demand quite forcibly, that a boaster makes good on whatever it is he is boasting about.

Boaster: "I can drink a whole bottle of brandy at one go without being sick."
Onlookers: "Right. Here is a bottle of brandy. Put your money where your mouth is and drink it now. We'll watch."

--

wrmst rgrds Robin Bignall

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Hello, marrows! May you help me? What does "put their money where their mouth is" mean? Thank you. Tim "Life is good, but good life much better".[/nq]
It sometimes means to make a bet on an issue upon which someone has expressed a point of view.

e.g.. "I can beat you at arm wrestling." " Oh yah... I'll bet $10.00 that you can't. Put your money where your mouth is tough guy."

tommy

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]What does "put their money where their mouth is" mean?[/nq]
It says that the person at whom it is directed has been taking the easy path of talking about a subject, a thing easily done at no cost or risk; the sense is "stop just talking about the matter and do something definite that shows that you are willing to put something significant at risk over the topic you have been so much talking about."

There is an analogous phrase you may have encountered: "you can talk the talk, but can you walk the walk?"

The subject remark is sometimes heard with respect to wagering--you say that thus-and-so is the case, but are you willing to bet on it?--but has a wider, more general sense; to use yet another old saying as a synonym, "Put up or shut up." Do it, or stop talking about it.

-- Cordially, Eric Walker My opinions on English are available at http://owlcroft.com/english/

Usenet · Answer

In alt.english.usage on Sat, 4 Oct 2003 02:45:22 +0400 "Timur Valois" (Email Removed) posted:
[nq:1]Hello, marrows! May you help me? What does "put their money where their mouth is" mean?[/nq]
It means instead of just talking about something (your mouth**), show that you mean what you are saying by being willing to spend some money on it. "That truck is worth at least 3000 dollars". Especially if he is talking to the seller, he's a big talker but he's not willing to spend 3000 dollars, or even less.

**rarely used in other than second person singular, because it's usually one annoying guy that one is talking to. If your example used "their" it's mostly by extension from "your" singular.
[nq:1]Thank you. Tim "Life is good, but good life much better".[/nq]
s/ meirman If you are emailing me please say if you are posting the same response.

Born west of Pittsburgh Pa. 10 years Indianapolis, 7 years Chicago, 6 years Brooklyn NY 12 years Baltimore 17 years

Put their money where their mouth is

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