What does all that meat and no potatos mean?

Answer 1

Because it's a slang catch-phrase, the meaning is hard to pin down; but in the 1940s, it was used in the U.S.A. in two senses: (1) to refer, in a negative way, to an overweight person -- someone with a lot of meat on the bones; (2) to refer to a shapely, full-figured, physically attractive woman -- used by men in place of a long, low, whistle. Both senses were negative: the first was a slur, the second was a crude reference to a woman's attractiveness as a mere sex object. The popularity of the expression might have been triggered by a 1941 song, "All that Meat and No Potatoes," words by Ed Kirkeby, music by Thomas "Fats" Waller, which begins: A man works hard then comes on home,

Expects to find stew with that fine ham bone.

He opens the door, then start to lookin',

Says, "Woman, what's this stuff you're cookin'?"

All that meat and no potatoes

Just ain't right, like green tomatoes.

Here I'm waiting, palpitatin',

For all that meat and no potatoes. The phrase, which is intentionally and sardonically played upon in the song, refers to a very good looking woman with an otherwise good figure "all that meat", but who is proportionally small breasted, "and no potatoes". One may not like it, but that is the true historical meaning of the phrase.