talk through one's hat
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Attested from the late 19th century in the United States in the sense of “bluff”; the sense “speak without authority or knowledge” developed later. Although some people speculate a connection to a former requirement that British Members of Parliament wear hats, the connection is implausible.
Pronunciation
[edit]Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
[edit]talk through one's hat (third-person singular simple present talks through one's hat, present participle talking through one's hat, simple past and past participle talked through one's hat)
- (idiomatic) To speak lacking expertise, authority, or knowledge; to invent or fabricate facts.
- Synonym: talk through one's ass
- c. 1900, Gilbert Parker, At The Sign Of The Eagle:
- "Mr. Pride said to me a moment ago that they spoke better English in Boston than any other place in the world."
"Did he, though, Lady Lawless? That's good. Well, I guess he was only talking through his hat."
- (idiomatic) To assert something as true or valid; to bluff.
- 1905, “The Norsk Nightingale”, in Popular Mechanics[1], page 478:
- No, sir, she yust standing pat, / And vonce more she tal her father, / “Yu ban talking tru yure hat!”
- 1922, P. G. Wodehouse, chapter 14, in Right Ho, Jeeves:
- He's conceited and opinionative and argues all the time, even when he knows perfectly well that he's talking through his hat.
Translations
[edit]to speak lacking knowledge
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to bluff
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
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See also
[edit]References
[edit]- “talk through one's hat”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- Gary Martin (1997–) “Talk through one's hat”, in The Phrase Finder.