# talk out the side of one’s neck



## AlexDD

talk out the side of one's neck: to give an uninformed opinion; to fabulate; to talk unwisely or unguardedly.​

The website says that it’s from Dutch . Could someone point out the reference of this slang expression? How does it associate with _to blow smoke_, _to fabulate_?


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## bibliolept

Alex, because it's a Dutch expression it might take someone who speaks both Dutch and English to tell us how it relates to English expressions.

That said, the Dutch "talk out of the side of one's neck" (if that's indeed an adequate translation) seems similar to the AE "talk out of one's hat," to talk nonsense, to talk without really knowing about the subject.

To "talk out of one's ass" is similar, though it is most often used to describe someone who is bragging about himself or criticizing another. It's a very rude phrase, of course.


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## AlexDD

Thank you, bibliolept.

Could you help me out to move this thread to the Dutch-English Forum?


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## Hermione Golightly

I have never heard the expression before. It seems to mean saying nothing of any interest, pointless talk. There are a couple of songs with the expression as the title.  The words of one of them are here

http://www.kovideo.net/lyrics/d/Dem-Franchize-Boyz/Talkin-Out-Da-Side-Of-Ya-Neck.html 

From these words, ooops I mean 'lyrics', the only thing the singer wants to hear about is money and he's not interested in hearing about anything else.

Maybe this would be called gangsta rap ? I am somewhat out of my depth here !

I know the expression "to talk through one's hat" meaning to talk about something you know nothing about.  I hope I don't talk through my hat very often.

Cheers
HG


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## killerbees

I looked this up in a list of Dutch expressions which you can find here: http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lijst_van_uitdrukkingen_en_gezegden_K-O: under _nek_. The definition is listed as "peddling/selling nonsense", which would be equivalent to the English expression 'talking out of one's hat/ass'.

I can't speak for the frequency of usage in Dutch, but, to my knowledge, 'talking out of the side of one's neck' is not nearly as common or known as the hat/ass variants in English.

Also, the expression given in the list, which I admit isn't very helpful if you can't read Dutch, just reads 'to speak out of one's neck'.

*'To blow smoke' and 'to fabulate' mean essentially the same thing, though I can't say I've ever heard 'fabulate' used in conversation.

*A quick note about the text in bold, since this was originally in the English only forum. These expressions all contain the element of fabrication, but have different nuance.

_To talk out of your hat/your ass/ the back of your neck_ - talking about something as if you are knowledgeable without actually being so.
_To blow smoke _- exaggerating/lying to make something or someone sound better than it is
_To fabulate _- to create/tell stories [which usually have fictitious elements]


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## missangelamb

Hi,

it does exist in Dutch and literally means 'to talk out of one's neck'. It's rather informal and has the same meaning as in English. No idea where it comes from...


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## Porteño

bibliolept said:


> Alex, because it's a Dutch expression it might take someone who speaks both Dutch and English to tell us how it relates to English expressions.
> 
> That said, the Dutch "talk out of the side of one's neck" (if that's indeed an adequate translation) seems similar to the AE "talk out of one's hat," to talk nonsense, to talk without really knowing about the subject.
> 
> To "talk out of one's ass" is similar, though it is most often used to describe someone who is bragging about himself or criticizing another. It's a very rude phrase, of course.


 
I always thought the expression was 'to talk out of the *back* of ones' neck'. Or perhaps 'out of the back of one's head'.


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## killerbees

Porteño said:


> I always thought the expression was 'to talk out of the *back* of ones' neck'.



That's exactly it! I couldn't figure out why the original sounded so strange to me...


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## Hitchhiker

In Belgium I remember the expression, "to have a fat neck" (or thick neck) meant to boast or brag and people would often gesture to both sides of the rear of their neck with both hands when they said it. Maybe that expression only applies to bragging and is different from talking out of ones' neck.


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## HKK

Strange how the expression seems to have changed. There is no reference to any specific part of the neck in the original Dutch "Uit zijn nek kletsen". _Kletsen _can mean to talk smalltalk, to banter, to chat, to catch up on gossip... 

I suppose to talk out of one's neck means the head is bypassed; therefore the _kletsen_ gets even more mindless.


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## The Machine of Zhu

"Uit zijn nek praten/kletsen/lullen" has the label "informal, colloquialism" in Van Dale. "Lullen" can be translated as "to talk bullshit." Van Dale Dutch-English indeed has "to talk out of the back of one's neck" as a translation for this expression. I have no idea where the expression comes from



			
				missangelamb said:
			
		

> Hi,
> 
> it does exist in Dutch and literally means 'to talk out of one's neck'. It's rather informal and has the same meaning as in English. No idea where it comes from...



Literally?


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## CLandKy

It looks like in American English it would be to 'talk out of the side of their mouth', which means that it's not what they would say to others, or just a bunch of bull.


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## Greetd

I think it is translated as "the back of one's neck" because the Dutch word "nek" is not an exact synonym for the English word "neck".
Nek = the back of the neck
Hals = the front of the neck
Maybe that's why they translated the expression that way, to specify what part of the neck it's about (as it is specified in Dutch)?


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