Butter no parsnips

The complete proverb is fine words butter no parsnips which means that words by themselves, no matter how fine, can never complete the task or solve the problem. It is a fairly old proverb that dates from the early 17th century. The key word is butter as in to butter up which signifies cajolery or flattery implicit in fine words. Parsnips are only incidental as a once-popular English food. Although not used very often these days, there used to be an alternative, fine words butter no fish, which proves the point about butter being the key word in the proverb, whether applied to parsnips, fish or any other foodstuff.