do exactly what it says on the tin

do exactly what it says on the tin

English

Etymology

Based on the slogan from a series of UK television commercials for Ronseal (sealant products), beginning in the 1990s.

Verb

do exactly what it says on the tin (third-person singular simple present does exactly what it says on the tin, present participle doing exactly what it said on the tin, simple past did exactly what it said on the tin, past participle done exactly what it said on the tin)

1. (idiomatic, Britain, Ireland) To do what is described or what one would expect, with no further explanation needed.
   • 2004, Andrea Schulte-Peevers, Germany, Lonely Planet,, →ISBN, page 689:

     [The Erotic Art Museum] does exactly what it says on the tin: presents erotic art […]

   • 2013, Stephen J. Sweeney, Firmware (volume 1)

     “That update is doing exactly what it says on the tin,” Jack started, demonstrating the date of birth restriction. It only returned the day and month now, holding back the year, causing some of Jack's regression tests to fail.

   • 2022 January 26, Paul Clifton, “Network News: ... and Arterio woes could mean more cascades”, in RAIL, number 949, page 10:

     "Until we get a train that performs to specification, it's difficult to put a timeline on it. The train does not do what it says on the tin.

   • 2022 August 12, Caroline Lucas, “As drought blights the UK, our politicians have their heads buried in the sand”, in The Guardian‎:

     The solutions to this crisis are clear. We must keep fossil fuels in the ground and deliver a clean, green and affordable energy system. We need publicly owned utilities to do what they say on the tin, rather than simply siphon off obscene profits to shareholders.

Further reading

• Does exactly what it says on the tin on Wikipedia.Wikipedia