Mucho ruido y pocas nueces

ser más el ruido que las nueces
(me lo contó un pajarito)
(fuente: rumba caracas)
no copyright infringement intended

What is a good translation for mucho ruido y pocas nueces? certainly not all talk and no action (Agu.Ewa).

Maybe all hat and no cattle? (crispinseattle).

Much ado about nothing? (Agu.Ewa)

No, that's quite different! Much ado about nothing means that there is a huge reaction to something that has happened that turns out to have little consequence (SparkyJim).

Okay, explain that to Shakespeare! (Agu.Ewa).

I doubt that Shakespeare was responsible for the Spanish translation of his title. I'd say that whoever chose to use the Spanish proverb as the title in translation was a poor translator indeed (SparkyJim).

Shakespeare just liked innuendos. Men had "something", women had "nothing" :) (TheNarwhalKing).

Actually in many countries Spanish speakers say mucha charla y poca acción. Personally I had never heard mucho ruido y pocas nueces (SeGa95)

Shaking the old chestnut tree...and getting nothing.. Much noise (leaves).. and getting few nuts.. Getting the point? (sylvainqc).

I've seen a book of Mexican idioms, and they are really down to earth and often related to rural activities. So, I'd guess that sylvainqc's description is accurate. I know I've shaken a few nut trees, heard lots of noise, and had little fall to the ground (cabieg).

You can have few walnuts, but not few pecans (themoonchild).

Walnuts is highly consumed in Spain and also exported, so I guess this idiom was brought by the salesmen/traders trying to convince you that they have the best walnuts... at least from my five minutes research, literally five minutes (accaleyne from Canada, who's learning Spanish for the music and literature, plus it's sexy).

Someone give this guy a lingot (René Michele). Better yet give him a walnut! (skibo21776). But what if he's allergic to walnuts? (Blue Star).

In Turkish : çok laf az iş (YusufBeratK).

In Polish it means dużo mówicie, mało robicie. Or more slang dużo gadki, mało picia (Sculptor2).

In Romanian, maybe vorbă lungă sărăcia omului? Or (way more street talk) facem servici sau regulăm pisici? (as I said, me lo contó un pajarito). Or something in between :) (that's me).

And as a conclusion: Dios es grande , la cerveza es buena, y la gente está loca (jemnight).




(Refranero español)