Electoral idioms
on November 9, 2006
in weird words
Read my lips
If someone tells you to read their lips, they are telling you to believe and trust what they are saying.
Bush won the White House in 1988 thanks, in large part, to his now infamous pledge ‘read my lips: no new taxes’.
Lip service
If you say that someone pays lip service or gives lip service to an idea, you are being critical of them because they appear to be in favour of it, but are not doing anything to support it. You can also just talk about lip service.
All the talk about nation-building is pure lip service, because people who are selfish will never join with others to build the nation and preserve the good welfare of others.
