When someone extols, or talks highly about something, but it turns out to be nothing; is there a phrase to that?
In Hebrew we say "no bears and no woods" ("lo dubim ve lo yahar"), for instance.
bullshit.
heh.
I forget this is a forum for words, not phrases
perhaps the phrase,'much ado about nothing' or 'make a mountain out of a molehill' is close to what you're looking for
All smoke and no fire - though it refers primarily to boasting, I believe.
make a mountain out of a molehill is more like crying wolf, isn't it? That is, making a minor problem sound like a major emergency.
You can also say, "You're just bullshitting", though it's not the most polite of language.
There's also "painting castles in the air," but I think that it refers more to day-dreaming and wish-fulfillment.
One of my coworkers just told me his mother used to say, "You can't make chicken salad out of chickenshit." (There's that s*** word again!) She's at least a fifth-generation Vermonter (or maybe New Hampshire-ite), which gives the phrase an interesting pedigree.
Heh. These are not bad, thanks!
Oops this is getting confusing: PF is a site for phrases only; AWAD for words only; WW for either words or phrases, making it difficult for the poor old non-geek who can't cope with the complexity of the Web World. For what it's worth, which evidently isn't much, the multi-purpose function like WW's is much more useful, obviating the embarrassment continual surfing from site to site
I even know of one such site---for phrases only--believe this or not--that actually banned a contributor when he tried to sneak a word in the guise of a phrase
When actually he had some justification because a Googling revealed 14 instances of its usage as phrase
So let's not let AWAD also become a center of contentious infighting
In all other respects AWAD remains one of my favorites and long may it survive
phrases, words. we take 'em all here.
and that's no bullshit.
PF? WW? I never heard of those. Any links?
Expressions that come to mind use the word "hype"
Don't believe the hype
It's all hype
Nothing but hype
The phrase about chicken salad reminds me of a good one I heard once about futile efforts to repair something that broke down so much that it simply needed to be replaced: You can't polish a turd.
Log forgive me. I just naturally assume that everybody gets around among the various word sites and would know what I meant. But I can understand why one might want to stick to a single site, as the surfing is very tedious
PF = Phrase Finder--http://www.phrases.org.uk/
WO = WordOrigins--http://p098.ezboard.com/fwordoriginsorgfrm1
WW = WordWizard--http://www.wordwizard.com/
WS = WordSmith (AWAD)
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make a mountain out of a molehill is more like crying wolf, isn't it? That is, making a minor problem sound like a major emergency.
Making a mountain out of a molehill is, as you say. making a minor problem seem major. Crying wolf is more like making up a problem where none exists. The story from which it derives is that of a young shepherd boy who cried wolf when there was none just to get attention and eventually people decided that there was no wolf when there really was one.
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make a mountain out of a molehill is more like crying wolf, isn't it? That is, making a minor problem sound like a major emergency.
Making a mountain out of a molehill is, as you say. making a minor problem seem major. Crying wolf is more like making up a problem where none exists. The story from which it derives is that of a young shepherd boy who cried wolf when there was none just to get attention and eventually people decided that there was no wolf when there really was one.
so, for instance, which class would the following statement fall into, mountain or wolf:
>>Oops this is getting confusing: PF is a site for phrases only; AWAD for words only
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make a mountain out of a molehill is more like crying wolf, isn't it? That is, making a minor problem sound like a major emergency.
Making a mountain out of a molehill is, as you say. making a minor problem seem major. Crying wolf is more like making up a problem where none exists. The story from which it derives is that of a young shepherd boy who cried wolf when there was none just to get attention and eventually people decided that there was no wolf when there really was one.
so, for instance, which class would the following statement fall into, mountain or wolf:
>>Oops this is getting confusing: PF is a site for phrases only; AWAD for words only
I wouldn't say it belongs in either category.
A quick survey on those sites, and AWAD wins hands down in terms of both quality and quantity.
... AWAD wins hands down in terms of both quality and quantity.
... and in the extraordinary erudition of its contributors.
...not to mention our ruggedly handsome good looks, as evidenced by Father Steve's avatar.
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...not to mention our ruggedly handsome good looks, as evidenced by Father Steve's avatar.
Whereas some of us choose to be insulting with our avatars.
our ruggedly handsome good looks, as evidenced by Father Steve's avatar. 
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Whereas some of us choose to be insulting with our avatars.
I don't know what you're talking about Max. I cropped mine so the machete doesn't show. 
and whereas some of us can't be arsed with little pictures at all on a site about language... [/grump]
They say "A picture is worth a thousand words."
Thousands of years ago, a large population movement began as the Viords, a Germanic group, pressed from behind, began to invade the Pictish islands. It soon turned into a medium-scale war, though it probably seemed like a full-scale war to those involved.
The leader of the Viords told one of his generals that he wanted to assault and take a particular tor because it would be strategically important. The general blanched. "Excellence, it will cost me dozens of men to take that hill, and I doubt that we could hold it."
"Silence!" roared the Viord leader. "I don't care how many men it takes. Everyone knows that one Pict tor is worth a thousand Viords."
> I don't care how many men it takes.
nah, they just ended up giving them a bunch of cars.
It was not what is was cracked up to be
It was overrated
It was a washout.
It was underwhelming.
It was a let-down.
It was below par.
Oh, I thought it was better than the average of TEd's stories.
-- no bears and no woods --
or, as eta says, bs: if a bear shits in the woods, and neither bear nor woods exists, then the only thing the shit could be is bull.
At the risk of going back to the original question with HL "just a lot of hot air"
PS TEd and Bingley thanks for the