blow smoke

By shortening of the full expression blow smoke up someone's ass, deemed less vulgar.

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blow smoke (third-person singular simple present blows smoke, present participle blowing smoke, simple past blew smoke, past participle blown smoke)

1. (originally US) To speak with a lack of credibility, sense, purpose, or truth; to speak nonsense.

   Synonym: blow smoke up someone's ass (vulgar)

   Are these "statistics" they cite verifiable, or are they just blowing smoke, trying to scare people?

   • 2005, Merle Haggard, “America First”, in Chicago Wind:

     Why don't we liberate these United States? / We're the ones who need it the most / You think I'm blowing smoke? Boys, it ain't no joke / I make twenty trips a year from coast to coast

   • 2009 April 2, Jeffrey Goldberg, quoting Joe Klein, “Joe Klein on Netanyahu”, in The Atlantic‎^[1], archived from the original on 19 August 2010:

     Joe [Klein] calls my [Benjamin] Netanyahu interview "more depressing than alarming, since you've got to figure that the new Israeli prime minister is mostly blowing smoke."

• See Thesaurus:nonsense
• See Thesaurus:deceive

• Tobacco smoke enema

• “blow smoke up someone’s ass v.” under “smoke n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present