all hat and no cattle

English

Alternative forms

• big hat, no cattle
• all hat, no ranch

Etymology

In reference to cattle ranchers and the hats they stereotypically wear; also derives from people wearing cowboy hats as fashion, but who are not actually cowboys, i.e., a poser, or a pretentious and phony individual.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

all hat and no cattle (not comparable)

1. (US, idiomatic) Full of big talk but lacking action, power, or substance; pretentious.
   • 1980, Patricia Calvert, The Snowbird, Scribner, →ISBN, page 29,

     A fortune can be made on the prairie, and that's what me and Mr. B aim to do. Don't aim to be all hat and no cattle forever, let me tell you!

   • c. 1982, Paul W. Cronin, quoted in Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein (Eds.), The American Elections of 1982, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (1983), →ISBN, page 82,

     They provided a lot of talk, what Texans refer to as “all hat and no cattle.”

   • 1985, Regis MacKenna, The Regis Touch: Million-Dollar Advice from America’s Top Marketing Consultant, Addison-Wesley Longman, Incorporated, →ISBN, page 27,

     There’s an old Texas saying about a cowboy who was “all hat and no cattle.” That is, he was all show and no substance.

   • 1998, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "I Only Have Eyes for You" (roughly 24.5 minutes in):

     Drusilla: It's time, Angel. She's ready for you now, she's dancing, dancing with death.

     Spike: Big deal, he won't do anything. Our man Angel here likes to talk, but he's not much for action. All hat and no cattle.

   • 1999, Randy Newman, "Big Hat, No Cattle", from the album Bad Love, ASIN B00000J7R4, Uses variation of idiom in refrain:

     "Big Hat, no cattle / Big head, no brain / Big snake, no rattle".

   • 2001, Janis L. Edwards, "Running in the Shadows in Campaign 2000: Candidate Metaphors in Editorial Cartoons", in American Behavioral Scientist, Volume 44 Issue 12, page 2142,

     We expect a leader to be effective in his job, not just a public relations artist who is "all hat and no cattle."

   • 2007, John Saul, "Freewheeling", in Call It Tender, Salt Publishing, →ISBN, page 31,

     She slapped my backside. Yew ol’ cowpoke.

     I’m a cowpoke?

     Yew certainly are. All hat and no cattle.

Synonyms

• all bark and no bite; all bluff and bluster; all booster, no payload; all crown, no filling; all foam, no beer; all hammer, no nail; all icing, no cake; all lime and salt, no tequila; all mouth and no trousers; all mouth and trousers; all shot, no powder; all sizzle and no steak; all talk; all talk and no action; all wax and no wick; all motion and no meat; all show, no go; all fur coat and no knickers; all retch and no vomit; all fart and no poo.