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speak out of both sides of one’s mouth

to be inconsistent or dishonest in what one says about the same subject or matter, depending on the audience or the circumstance

Etymology:

  • Though the origin is unclear, it is possible this idiom was influenced by the ancient idea that the right side of anything is good and the left is evil, implying duplicitousness in that, one is speaking both good and ill on a given concept or viewpoint.
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The manager was likely speaking out of both sides of her mouth, to some us, when when she introduced the prospect of salary raises because, it seems now, that was never in the cards.

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Submitted by JokerGem on September 27, 2023

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Nearby phrases

Some more phrases from our dictionary similar to speak out of both sides of one’s mouth

speak softly and carry a big stickspill one's seedspeak tospeak tospeak another vesselspill one's gutsspeak volumesspeak now or forever hold your peacespeak for oneselfspeak for oneselfspeak tospeak outspeak forspeak to

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    "speak out of both sides of one’s mouth." Phrases.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 Nov. 2024. <https://www.phrases.com/phrase/speak-out-of-both-sides-of-ones-mouth_63927>.

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