go through the motions

Meaning: To do something without care or real effort.

Language: English

Literally: (Already vivid in English)

Example: “He went through the motions of tidying, pushing everything under the bed.”

Category: Daily Life

Origin: "Motions" are the movements of an action, performed without the intent behind them. The phrase is recorded from the 19th century.

Equivalents in other languages

Russian: работать спустя рукава (rabotat' spustya rukava) — literally: to work with sleeves let down
Dutch: Iets met de Franse slag doen — literally: To do something with the French stroke
Icelandic: Að kasta til höndunum — literally: To throw with your hands
Malay: Melepaskan batuk di tangga — literally: To cough on the stairs and leave
Dutch: er met een jantje-van-leiden van afmaken — literally: to finish it off with a little John from Leiden

mark my words — Remember what I am telling you; it will turn out to be true.
give someone the runaround — To put someone off with excuses instead of a straight answer.
pin the blame on someone — To make someone take responsibility for a fault, often unfairly.
a closed book — Something one knows nothing about, or someone impossible to understand.
a trump card — A decisive advantage kept in reserve.
hide one's light under a bushel — To keep one's talents hidden.

be tone-deaf — To be unable to tell musical notes apart; also, to have no sense of how others feel.
throw dust in someone's eyes — To mislead someone by distracting them.
when pigs fly — Never.
lead someone up the garden path — To deceive someone, keeping them hopeful along the way.
packed like sardines — Crowded very tightly together.
let the grass grow under one's feet — To waste time and miss opportunities.

Sprezzatura — The art of making something difficult look wholly effortless, hiding every trace of the w…
Dietrologia — The conviction that the official account is never the real one — that some hidden motive…
Attaccabottoni — The person who corners you and holds you in an endless, tedious story you cannot politely…