"money talks, bullshit walks" meaning in English

See money talks, bullshit walks in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Proverb

Etymology: First appeared c. 1968 in the US; a rhyming elaboration of money talks. Etymology templates: {{m|en|money talks}} money talks Head templates: {{head|en|proverb|head=money talks, bullshit walks}} money talks, bullshit walks
  1. (slang, vulgar) 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. Tags: slang, vulgar Synonyms: money talks and bullshit walks Related terms: actions speak louder than words, talk is cheap, talk the talk, walk the walk, a picture is worth a thousand words

Download JSON data for money talks, bullshit walks meaning in English (2.8kB)

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  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "money talks"
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      "expansion": "money talks",
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  "etymology_text": "First appeared c. 1968 in the US; a rhyming elaboration of money talks.",
  "head_templates": [
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        "2": "proverb",
        "head": "money talks, bullshit walks"
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  "lang_code": "en",
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1968, Keefe Brasselle, The Cannibals: A Novel about Television's Savage Chieftains, page p. 68",
          "text": "“You taught me a great expression a few years ago, Joey—don’t forget it yourself.”\n“What expression?” I asked.\n“Money talks—bullshit walks. Joey, the further away from the Chairman I get, the better I like it.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984, Jack DeSario, Stuart Langton, Symposium on Citizen Participation and Public Policy, page 321",
          "text": "As my former congressman put it so inelegantly: \"Money talks; bullshit walks.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Paul William Roberts, Norman Snider, Smokescreen: One Man Against the Underworld, page 252",
          "text": "First rule of the cold approach: money talks, bullshit walks. So Cal would tip the guy twenty dollars on a hundred-dollar tab.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "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."
      ],
      "id": "en-money_talks,_bullshit_walks-en-proverb-TdUc-F7U",
      "links": [
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          "attempt"
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        [
          "accomplish",
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        [
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        [
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, vulgar) 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."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "actions speak louder than words"
        },
        {
          "word": "talk is cheap"
        },
        {
          "word": "talk the talk"
        },
        {
          "word": "walk the walk"
        },
        {
          "word": "a picture is worth a thousand words"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "money talks and bullshit walks"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang",
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  "word": "money talks, bullshit walks"
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  "etymology_text": "First appeared c. 1968 in the US; a rhyming elaboration of money talks.",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "proverb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "actions speak louder than words"
    },
    {
      "word": "talk is cheap"
    },
    {
      "word": "talk the talk"
    },
    {
      "word": "walk the walk"
    },
    {
      "word": "a picture is worth a thousand words"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1968, Keefe Brasselle, The Cannibals: A Novel about Television's Savage Chieftains, page p. 68",
          "text": "“You taught me a great expression a few years ago, Joey—don’t forget it yourself.”\n“What expression?” I asked.\n“Money talks—bullshit walks. Joey, the further away from the Chairman I get, the better I like it.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1984, Jack DeSario, Stuart Langton, Symposium on Citizen Participation and Public Policy, page 321",
          "text": "As my former congressman put it so inelegantly: \"Money talks; bullshit walks.\"",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2001, Paul William Roberts, Norman Snider, Smokescreen: One Man Against the Underworld, page 252",
          "text": "First rule of the cold approach: money talks, bullshit walks. So Cal would tip the guy twenty dollars on a hundred-dollar tab.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "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."
      ],
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        [
          "accomplish",
          "accomplish"
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        ],
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(slang, vulgar) 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."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "slang",
        "vulgar"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "money talks and bullshit walks"
    }
  ],
  "word": "money talks, bullshit walks"
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-17 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-01 using wiktextract (0b52755 and 5cb0836). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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