don't let your mouth write a check your tail can't cash

don't let your mouth write a check your tail can't cash pronunciation

/dont let yer MOUTH rite uh check yer TAIL kant cash/

Meaning

A warning before somebody runs their mouth into a fight they cannot win. Your words are the check. Your "tail" is the body that has to pay when the other guy calls it. Same idea as don't talk big if you cannot walk it out behind the shed.

How folks use it

• “Boy, don't let your mouth write a check your tail can't cash before you step outside.”
• “He kept talking smack till somebody reminded him not to let his mouth write a check his tail can't cash.”

Origin and etymology

American folk saying built on the old "writing checks you can't cash" idea. The "tail" wording is often tied to bluesman Bo Diddley. Close cousins swap in "ass" or "body." Charles Portis put an "ass" version in his 1966 novel Norwood. It stuck hard in Southern talk as a blunt threat check.

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