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There have been one or two past questions on different variations of "blowhard," but no answer quite gets at an emblematic recent incident. A famous senator attributed the quote "all sound and fury, signifying nothing" to Shakespeare and a famous journalist "corrected" him and told him, "no, that's Faulker." So, eager to one-up someone based on ignorance and laziness (i.e., couldn't be bothered to google the quote). "Ignorant blowhard" doesn't quite capture the implied feverish desire to put one over on someone without really knowing what you're talking about. Other words?

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    Which person are you saying is an "ignorant blowhard"? The quote it paraphrased (only very slightly) from Shakespeare. – Hot Licks Feb 13 '21 at 20:11
  • A smart aleck. : an obnoxiously conceited and self-assertive person with pretensions to smartness or cleverness. (MW) – Xanne Feb 14 '21 at 05:51
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  • This incident reminds me of an old "Pogo" cartoon in which Porkypine looks up at the falling rain and says to three other characters—Pogo Possum, Churchy Lafemme (a turtle), and Howlan' Owl—huddled nearby, "Like the man say, 'Ever'body complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.'" And then Churchy and Owl get into a big fight about whether "Twain said it" or "Clemens said it." Finally, as the owl and the turtle go tumbling down the hill wrestling with each other, Pogo asks, "Who said it?" and Porky answers, "You was there; you hearn me. I said it." – Sven Yargs Mar 14 '21 at 08:05

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The phrase feels a little dated to me, although ngram shows it to have interested tenfold since about 1990, but I like:

Pompous Ass = A person who seems full of themselves and who grabs every opportunity to let others know of their feelings of superiority.

Urban Dictionary

Anton
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