soapy Sam

soapy Sam

One who is slick and persuasive, especially in speech. The phrase originally referred to Samuel Wilberforce, a 19th-century Bishop of Oxford, who was known for such qualities. This guy is a real soapy Sam—the townspeople believe his every word, even though he has never delivered on a single promise.
See also: SAM
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
See also:
  • talk (one's) way out of (something)
  • talk way out of
  • talk your way out of something/out of doing something
  • a penny for them
  • be twiddling (one's) thumbs
  • be twiddling your thumbs
  • (as) sure as eggs (is eggs)
  • but for the grace of God
  • 57
  • and the rest
References in classic literature
Disraeli once described the manner of Bishop Wilberforce as "unctuous, oleaginous, saponaceous." And the good prelate was ever afterward known as Soapy Sam. For every man there is something in the vocabulary that would stick to him like a second skin.
The Devils Dictionary
* the self-righteous Head of Chambers, Soapy Sam Ballard;
Rumpole and the Angel of Death
One was Darwin's disciple Thomas Huxley, the other Samuel 'Soapy Sam' Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford.
Culture: Survival of the fittest for playwright; Terry Grimley meets Crispin Whittell, whose new play takes some eminent Victorians to 21st-century California
The Conservatives got in touch with The Dikler to tell us that Soapy Sam, the Tory Tipster, will be there alongside Sophie Brodie, the party's candidate for Doncaster North, who is bidding to unseat Labour big cheese Ed Miliband.
Apparently Soapy Sam will be sporting dark glasses, tweed and side whiskers.
Big Mac the one downside of the week for Walsh; THE DIKLER The talk of racing
Since a revolutionary day in June 1860, when the Bishop of Oxford, "Soapy Sam" Wilberforce, rose before the British Association to put an end to Mr.
The claims of realism