all hat and no cattle

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.

• "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."
• "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."
• ""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."

• all bark and no bite
• all bluff and bluster
• all booster, no payload
• all crown, no filling
• all erection, no ejaculation
• all fart and no poo
• all foam, no beer
• all fur coat and no knickers
• all garnish and no meat
• all hammer, no nail
• all hat and no cowboy
• all hat, no ranch
• all icing, no cake
• all lime and salt, no tequila
• all motion and no meat
• all mouth and no trousers
• all mouth and trousers
• all retch and no vomit
• all shot, no powder
• all show, no go
• all sing, no dance
• all sizzle and no steak
• all talk
• all talk and no action
• all talk and no cider
• all talk and trousers
• all wax and no wick
• big hat, no cattle