Pallone gonfiato

Meanings

A self-important, pompous person who is actually not important. A person usually perceived as useless or given more credit than he/she deserves.
(slang)

Examples

Everything was running fine in the office until the stuffed shirts from IT made useless and wrong changes messing everything up

Tutto funzionava bene in ufficio, finché quei palloni gonfiati dell'IT non hanno fatto modifiche inutili e sbagliate, incasinando tutto

George could seem to be a stuffed shirt to all his new coworkers, but he's actually a friendly, informal guy like any of us

George potrebbe sembrare un pallone gonfiato agli occhi dei suoi nuovi colleghi, ma in realtà è un ragazzo disponibile e informale come tutti noi

Matthew thinks he's really something, but he's just a pompous ass who needs to be taken down a peg or two

Matteo crede di essere chissà chi, ma è solo un pallone gonfiato che deve abbassare le arie

Isn't she a stuffed shirt, or what? Always putting on airs and acting as an aristocrat just because her great-great-grandfather was on the Mayflower

Si dà sempre delle arie e si atteggia ad aristocratica solo perché un suo trisavolo era sulla Mayflower. È proprio solo un pallone gonfiato!

Origin

In early 1900, before the time of dummies, retailers would stuff shirts with paper-tissues for display in their shop-windows. The outside would look genuine, but the inside was completely worthless.

Another theory relates this expression to the old habit of stuffing a pair of old pants and a shirt full of straw to make a scarecrow, which would look dangerous on the outside, but it would be powerless in the inside