dog and pony show

See also: dog-and-pony show

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

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Pronunciation
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Noun

dog and pony show (plural dog and pony shows)

  1. (historical) A small traveling circus featuring animals as entertainment.
  2. (idiomatic) Any presentation or display that is overly contrived or intricate, while lacking real substance.
    They put on a whole dog and pony show for the investors, but I'm not sure they've convinced anyone.
    • 2012 January 8, Elizabeth Popp Berman, Creating the Market University: How Academic Science Became an Economic Engine‎, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 119:
      Here, the academics put on a bit of a dog-and-pony show, demonstrating their latest breakthroughs and giving sponsors a chance to meet students who are about to receive their PhDs and start looking for jobs. […]
    • 2012 November 28, “Please Click On Our Website's Banner Ads”, in The Onion‎:
      Look, I know this may all seem somewhat untoward, and we can go through a whole dog-and-pony show here where I pretend that this column exists as a forum for ideas, and that I act as an independent voice who isn't beholden to advertisers, and the power of the First Amendment, and blah blah, etc. etc. But let's get real for a second here, okay?

See also
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