Large numbers of people often say little that makes sense. Such persons are said to be “talking through their hats”. This certainly gives you a clear picture of men who are not communicating especially well.
Americans often use this expression with a good deal of emotion behind it. In doing so, they seem to be rebelling against the vast amount of nonsense and babble that have to listen to from day to day, especially from speechmakers of one kind or another. You hear them everywhere—in huge halls and auditoriums, at sports stadiums and on radio and television. People are fed up with all this hot air. It is a comfort to be able to say, “They are talking through their hats”.
The expression, some believed, got into the language by way of politics. First signs of it seem to have appeared in the
The newspaper published cartoons of Benjamin Harrison, the Republican candidate who won the presidential election in 1888.
The newspaper had opposed his election and showed him under a beaver hat so large that it seemed to cover much of President Harrison’s face. In that position, anything the President might say would make little sense.
透过帽子讲话
很多人说的话往往都没什么意义，这种人可以说是在“透过帽子讲话”。这个词语清楚地勾画出那些不善于表达思想的人的形象。
美国人使用这个词语时，情绪常是愤然的。他们这么做，似乎是在对日复一日不得不听的废话，尤其是对要听这种或那种演说家的胡扯表示抗争。在大会堂、大礼堂、体育场，在广播、电视里——到处都能听到废话。人们对这种夸夸其谈已经听够了。能够说一声“他们是在透过帽子讲话”，就会觉得痛快一些。
有人认为这个词语是从政界传入语言中的，似乎在十九世纪八十年代首先出现在纽约市的报纸——《世界报》上。
该报刊登了在1８88年大选中获胜的共和党总统候选人本杰明·哈里森总戴着一顶大大的海狸皮帽子的卡通画。
该报并不赞成这次选举，因此以他被大大的海狸皮帽子遮住脸的形象示人。总统在这种情况下讲话，不管说什么别人也听不出多少名堂。
