dar atol con el dedo

The Central American form (using atol, the regional word for the corn-based drink known elsewhere as atole) of the idiom meaning to string someone along with empty promises or placate them with something insubstantial, keeping them quiet without real satisfaction.

• El gobierno solo nos da atol con el dedo con esas promesas. — The government is just stringing us along with those promises.
• No me des atol con el dedo, dime la verdad. — Don't feed me empty promises, tell me the truth.
• Llevan meses dándole atol con el dedo al vecindario. — They've spent months stringing the neighborhood along.

This is the same idiom as dar atole con el dedo, just with the Central American word atol instead of the Mexican atole — a learner shouldn't treat them as two different expressions to learn.

Often confused with dar atole con el dedo.