Si riferische a una persona bella fuori (esteticamente) ma non con altre capacità/qualità; vuota dentro per intenderci.
In inglese, letteralmente vuol dire: you are beautiful outside but you can't dance, that does not meaning anything. The meaning instead is that you are referring to a person who looks beautiful, but who is empty inside, like she does not have personality or any other skills except looking great.
Esempi:
Maria è bella ma non balla
Marco è bello ma non balla
Another expression with a similar meaning is: essere tutto fumo e niente arrosto, which is like all show and no substance.
Do you have a similiar idiom in English or Spanish?
There's a nice English version of the second one : 'all mouth and no trousers'.
'All brawn and no brains' - but this only refers to males.
'Dead behind the eyes' could also refer to someone who isn't very intelligent, but this has other connotations too.
"All bark, (but) no bite." — RE: Incompetence, Insincerity, Inauthentic, Phoniness.
““….like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness." Matthew 23:27 — RE: Deception, Phoniness.
"Beauty, (but) no brains.” — RE: Intelligence, Character
“There’s a nice looking doorbell (or ‘nice looking door to knock on), but nobody’s home.” [I just made this up!] — RE: Intelligence, Character
“I think she slipped into the gene pool when the life guard wasn’t looking.” — RE: Intelligence, Character
“A wolf in sheep’s clothing.” — RE: Deception
Hi Adrian, do you know the origin of that expression?
Grazie!
