to pay lip service to something
idiom

- to say that you agree with and support an idea or plan but not do anything to help it to succeed

Cambridge Dictionary of Idioms

---
WORD ORIGIN

The roots of this idiom may lie in the Bible. In the Book of Matthew, chapter 15 verse 8, Jesus quotes Isaiah as saying "These people honour me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." In other words, they say one thing but do another.

In modern times, public words are often at variance with private opinions or actual behaviour:

If a company spokesperson issues a public statement expressing full support for something - laws to fight global warming for instance - while the company continues to operate in an environmentally unfriendly way, the company is paying lip service to this issue.

Or a politician might stand in front of a group of union workers and claim that he will fight for higher pay and then the next day speak to a group of businessmen and tell them the government has "no business" interfering in the free market by regulating wages.

Expressions that are similar to paying lip service include "blow smoke" and "promise the moon."

---
Practice OWAD in a conversation:

"When we say that staff safety is our number one priority, we are not merely PAYING LIP SERVICE."

---
Thanks to Thomas for suggesting today's word!