# Looking for a word....



## Pedro y La Torre

Context:

Someone who always tells you what to do, but never takes their own advice.

I can't even think of the word in English at the minute, the closest thing I can get is a "back-seat driver" but that's in relation to driving.

Anyone have any ideas?


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## edwingill

He doesn't practice what he preaches, but i can't think of a noun for the moment


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## pheelineerie

hypocrite?


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## DearPrudence

"Faites ce que je dis mais pas ce que je fais"  
Interesting question, I'll continue to rack my brain and hope someone will come up with the word in English & French.


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## archijacq

On a l'expression:
les conseilleurs ne sont pas les meilleurs

Ici le mot "conseilleur" est par lui-même ironique (somebody who is good as a giver of advice, but can't properly take care of himself)


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## Pedro y La Torre

Hypocrite could work but I think there's something better. Like when your mother tells you to go to school because it's important to do your work while at the same time she goes shopping. 

Is this a hypocrite? I guess so but I'm sure there's a better word for it in English et peut-être en français.




archijacq said:


> On a l'expression:
> les conseilleurs ne sont pas les meilleurs
> 
> Ici le mot "conseilleur" est par lui-même ironique (somebody who is good as a giver of advice, but can't properly take care of himself)



Merci mais y-a-t-il un seul mot pour exprimer cette idée?


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## DearPrudence

Wild guess:* "Un donneur de leçons"* ? (I'm not sure it implies that that person does _not_ follow their own advice though)


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## edwingill

The only nouns I can think of have religious connotations: Tartuffe,he is a real Tartuffe, which can be used in English, or pharisee.  I like  DearPrudence's rendering: "Faites ce que je dis mais pas ce que je fais", which corresponds to  "do as I say, not as I do"


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## edwingill

Another suggestion *imposteur*?


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## catay

edwingill said:


> The only nouns I can think of have religious connotations: Tartuffe,he is a real Tartuffe, which can be used in English, or pharisee.


Along the same lines, but used in familiar language "a phony."


Something not genuine; a fake.

One who is insincere or pretentious.
An impostor; a hypocrite.

[Alteration of _fawney_, gilt brass ring used by swindlers, from Irish Gaelic _fáinne_, ring, from Old Irish.]
http://www.answers.com/topic/phony


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## nhat

un beau parleur, ca peut etre proche meme si c pas exactement ca


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## DearPrudence

Seeing those latest answers made me think ...
I don't know why but I had the impression that that person was pretentious and haughty (holier-than-thou a bit (I never know how to use that expression  )). ("Fais pas ci, fais ça ! Mais tu sais pas conduire ou quoi ?! Il fallait prendre à droite, là ..")
Do you imply that they do it intentionally ("imposteur") or they just think they're right without seeing they're wrong ...?
I'm not sure if you see what I mean (not even sure I see it myself  )


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## catay

How about making one up?
She's a "holier than thouist"


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## Old Novice

I can't think of a single word, either, but the famous way to say this in English, particularly regarding parents and children, is "Do what I say, not what I do."


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## mgarizona

catay said:


> How about making one up?
> She's a "holier than thouist"


 
I think we're going to have to, but really edwingill's "He doesn't practice what he preaches" is probably the ball park we need to be playing in.

So ...

A non-practising preacher?

A preachy non-practitioner?


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## Old Novice

mgarizona said:


> I think we're going to have to, but really edwingill's "He doesn't practice what he preaches" is probably the ball park we need to be playing in.
> 
> So ...
> 
> A non-practising preacher?
> 
> A preachy non-practitioner?



Parent?


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## Pedro y La Torre

DearPrudence said:


> Do you imply that they do it intentionally ("imposteur") or they just think they're right without seeing they're wrong ...?



Maybe a bit of both, you know someone who likes to tell others what to do but when it comes down to it dosen't do what he advises others to do.

Like the mother who tells the kid he must go to school to get a good job while she goes around all day shopping.

I don't know if I've made it any clearer


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## catay

> Parent?


 ...
 Similar to what Mgarizona suggested:
a false preacher
un faux prédicateur?
But this might have too much of a religious connotation....


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## clairet

I think the best so far remains "back-seat driver".  The others, like hypocrite and phony don't necessarily involve telling someone else what to do.  The only problem with "back-seat driver" is that it doesn't necessarily involve being hypocritical - the back-seat driver may really do themselves what they tell you to do.  But on balance it's more likely that a back-seat driver will be a hypocrite than that a hypocrite will be a back-seat driver!


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## OlivierG

archijacq said:


> On a l'expression:
> les conseilleurs ne sont pas les meilleurs
> 
> Ici le mot "conseilleur" est par lui-même ironique (somebody who is good as a giver of advice, but can't properly take care of himself)



I think the expression is actually "Les conseilleurs ne sont pas les *payeurs*" (meaning that it's easy to suggest solutions when you don't have to bear the situation they bring on)


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## Stefan Ivanovich

archijacq said:


> On a l'expression:
> les conseilleurs ne sont pas les meilleurs
> 
> Ici le mot "conseilleur" est par lui-même ironique (somebody who is good as a giver of advice, but can't properly take care of himself)


In my neck of the woods: _Les conseilleurs ne sont pas les *payeurs.*_


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## clairet

One solution when we don't have an exact term is to refer to a literary example, like the Tartuffe one given above somewhere.  In Eng Lit, people often refer to Orwell's "Animal Farm" for such examples.  So (with apologies!  ) how about Napoleon the pig from that novel?  e.g. "He's a real Orwellian Napoleon" or "She's just like Napoleon in Animal Farm".


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## mgarizona

clairet said:


> One solution when we don't have an exact term is to refer to a literary example, like the Tartuffe one given above somewhere. In Eng Lit, people often refer to Orwell's "Animal Farm" for such examples. So (with apologies!  ) how about Napoleon the pig from that novel? e.g. "He's a real Orwellian Napoleon" or "She's just like Napoleon in Animal Farm".


 
Would have never thought of that.

How about, "He's Napoleonic, in a porcine kind of way."


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## Pedro y La Torre

clairet said:


> One solution when we don't have an exact term is to refer to a literary example, like the Tartuffe one given above somewhere.  In Eng Lit, people often refer to Orwell's "Animal Farm" for such examples.  So (with apologies!  ) how about Napoleon the pig from that novel?  e.g. "*He's a real Orwellian Napoleon*" or "She's just like Napoleon in Animal Farm".



Somehow I can't really see myself saying to a friend "he's a real Orwellian Napoleon, isn't he?"


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## clairet

catay said:


> ...
> Similar to what Mgarizona suggested:
> a false preacher
> un faux prédicateur?
> But this might have too much of a religious connotation....


 
This is getting closer. "A false preacher" sounds a bit religious though - like someone not preaching The True Faith whatever that might be. Maybe -
formal - a hypocritical preacher/advocate
informal - hypocritical big mouth


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## catay

"a lip server"...informal - hypocritical big mouth


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## Pedro y La Torre

^^I think that's quite close. Any ideas en français?


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## pheelineerie

i thought lip service meant flattering someone.


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## Pedro y La Torre

pheelineerie said:


> i thought lip service meant flattering someone.



Yes but a lip server is different is it not? Someone who says one thing but does another?


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## pheelineerie

I think a lip server is more someone who will say anything in order to please.

Ex:
"It is plain to see that you are *a lip server* only—that is, you claim to believe in freedom, but not in dying for it."
"The other was *a lip server* who said "yes" to his father to please him."

So it's slightly different than not following one's own advice, I believe.


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## catay

Yes, Pheelineerie, lip server has that meaning as well. I just found the following link and among the several synonyms for lip server are hypocrite, Tartuffe, phony, ....

http://www.foyz.com/thesaurus/word/lip+server/


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## pheelineerie

That page just lists hundreds of loosely related words. They don't all mean exactly the same thing. I mean, they also list Christian, debater, and bluffer as synonyms for lip server, which I think we can all agree is n'importe quoi.

I uphold that they're slightly different. A lip server just wants to make himself look good, whereas the person in question is bossing people around but not following his own advice.


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## catay

Yes, the list is long and the choice of any of the words depends on the context. For me, the term has nuances, "He is a real lip server (makes use of talk but not action)... He talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk." Given the previous discussion, is there one specific noun that you can use for a person who is " bossing people around but not following his/her own advice?"

*lip service*, expression by the lips of obedience and
      devotion without the performance of acts suitable to such
      sentiments.
http://www.dictionaryofwords.com/lip+service_pag1.html


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## jekiffefrançais

How about a "know-it-all"? (In French, M./Mme Je-sais-tout.)


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