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Lip service

Posted by ESC on June 11, 2003

In Reply to: Lip service posted by Saxon on June 10, 2003

: Can you please tell me the origin of this phrase? Thank you,
: Saxon

This source says it's from the Bible.

LIP SERVICE - "Insincere respect, expressed with the lips but not acted upon. 'This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.' Matthew 15:8." From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable revised by Adrian Room (HarperCollinsPublishers, New York, 1999, Sixteenth Edition).

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