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money talks, bullshit walks

proverb

Etymology

First appeared c. 1968 in the US; a rhyming elaboration of money talks.

Definitions

  1. Attempting to accomplish a goal by demonstrating possession of material resources will…

    Attempting to accomplish a goal by demonstrating possession of material resources will succeed, while attempting to accomplish the same goal through mere rhetoric will fail.

    • “You taught me a great expression a few years ago, Joey—don’t forget it yourself.” “What expression?” I asked. “Money talks—bullshit walks. Joey, the further away from the Chairman I get, the better I like it.”
    • As my former congressman put it so inelegantly: "Money talks; bullshit walks."
    • First rule of the cold approach: money talks, bullshit walks. So Cal would tip the guy twenty dollars on a hundred-dollar tab.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for money talks, bullshit walks. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA