"Red hat, no drawers."

[Paul Johnston]

Any relationship to the Scottish phrase, frequently said about a
stereotypical Edinburgh resident who is all perfect in his/her outside image
but who is poverty-stricken and probably eating cat food:  "Fur coat 'n nae
knickers"?

Paul Johnston
----- Original Message -----
From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, March 29, 2005 11:34 PM
Subject: Re: "Red hat, no drawers."


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Red hat, no drawers."
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----
>
> At 11:13 PM -0500 3/29/05, Rex W. Stocklin wrote:
> >At 5:06 PM -0800 3/29/05, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> >
> >>The former should not be confused with the Texas aphorism, "Big hat,
> >>no cattle."
> >
> >Excuse the butt-in, but I think the phrase is "All hat and no cattle"
> >
> Well, the google score is 21500-4590 in favor of the "All hat"
> version, but those 4590 big-hatters can't be entirely pooh-poohed.
>
> Larry