professed love of what one actually fears; lip service
Meanings
1 sense · 4 examplesidiom
to claim to love something while actually fearing it; professed love of what one really fears
literaryDerived from the Han dynasty story of Lord Ye (Ye Gong) of Chu, recorded in Liu Xiang's 'New Preface' (新序), who claimed to love dragons but ran away in terror when a real dragon appeared at his window. The idiom describes insincere or hypocritical professed interests.
His professed love for classical music is merely a case of Lord Ye's love for dragons—he actually doesn't understand it at all.
Don't be fooled by his constant talk about environmental protection—it's just empty posturing, as he never sorts his own garbage.
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Many companies claim to value innovation, but when facing risks, they prove to be like Lord Ye—they dare not truly commit.
When faced with a real challenge, he showed himself to be all talk and no action.