blow smoke up someone's ass
Deceive with praise
To blow smoke up someone's ass is to flatter them insincerely or feed them obvious lies, especially to manipulate or placate them.
The phrase is vulgar and emphatic: Don't blow smoke up my ass—tell me what you really think.
Someone who suspects they're being handled might demand no smoke-blowing.
- talk out of one's assSpeak without basis
- full of itTalking rubbish
- complimentWords expressing approval
- adulationExtravagant, servile praise
- deceitDeliberate misleading of others
sweet-talk · manipulation · dishonesty · duplicity · insincerity · smoke up · smoke and mirrors · sugarcoat · lay it on thick · flattery · misrepresentation · artifice · fraudulence · put on airs · kiss up to · pretense · brown-nose · play up to
blow smoke up someone's asstell it like it is
Speak with complete candor
level with · speak the truth · tell the truth · lay it on the line · call a spade a spade
blow smoke up someone's assburst someone's bubble
Dispel a comforting illusion
blowing, blower, smokes, smoked, smoking, smoker, smokiness, someone