broken reed

an unreliable or undependable person. (On the image of a useless, broken reed in a reed instrument.) You can't rely on Jim's support. He's a broken reed. Mr. Smith is a broken reed. His deputy has to make all the decisions.

broken reed

A weak or unreliable support, as in I'd counted on her to help, but she turned out to be a broken reed. The idea behind this idiom, first recorded about 1593, was already present in a mid-15th-century translation of a Latin tract, "Trust not nor lean not upon a windy reed."

Common Names:

Name	Pronounced	Usage
Les	LES, LEZ	English
Cecilio	the-THEE-lyo (Spanish), se-SEE-lyo (Latin American Spanish), che-CHEE-lyo (Italian)	Spanish, Portuguese, Italian
Valentinus	-	Ancient Roman
Nitza	-	Hebrew
JÓNa	-	Icelandic
Ea (2)	-	Swedish, Danish, Norwegian