- English translation
All voice and no getting up: loud of mouth, but stuck sitting on his backside.
- Literal wording
The voice runs freely, and the tailbone is couched on the ground.
- Meaning and lesson
The saying sets a lively, unobstructed voice against a body slumped on its tailbone and unable to rise. Here the word often read as 'sense' means audible voice, the word usually meaning 'button' means tailbone, and the verb pictures a kneeling camel couched on the ground, signaling immobility. Noise flows while the limbs stay still.
It is aimed at a person who is feeble or incapable when it comes to real work yet never stops boasting, claiming, or chattering. The proverb exposes the gap between loud self-assertion and actual effort, implying that the talk is cheap because no deeds stand behind it.
- When it is used
Use it to mock someone who talks big, complains loudly, or makes grand claims while doing little or nothing. It fits informal teasing or sharp criticism of a boastful, inactive person, but it can wound if aimed at someone genuinely ill rather than merely idle.
Cite or copy proverb
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