Lip service
Posted by TheFallen on June 11, 2003
In Reply to: Lip service posted by ESC on June 11, 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).
Almost invariably used in the expression "to pay lip service to someone/something".