empty-boxcars train of assurers

Derisive term for a sizable number of acquaintances of someone with a dubious reputation who make praising statements about the individual's character/morals, offer to co-sign a loan he's requesting, etc., but who are of comparably-questionable integrity themselves, are also broke, etc., and so their own word and/or reliability is viewed as not being much more of a legitimate guarantee than the promises of the person they're vouching for. In other words, "quantito, but not qualito"... lots of impressive-looking "containers", but with no actual/tangible/legitimate "goods" inside of said containers.

Loan officer: I always feel really wary/suspicious whenever someone of unknown/questionable reputation asks for a loan and offers to bring in a number of other folks to vouch for his character, reliability, and financial responsibility --- "methinks he doth protest too much", plus usually his so-called "witnesses" appear to merely be an "empty-boxcars train of assurers"... they seem no more trustworthy than I would view the loan-requester himself as being, and so their voluminous praise/recommendations hold little significance and inspire little confidence in me regarding whether the loan-requester would actually possess adequate means/motivation/dedication to repay the money. I feel something like how the lady-attorney in "Losing Isaiah" did when she pointed out that the members of the "support group" whom ex-druggie/shoplifter Khaila had named as the people who were assisting her in her efforts to "go straight" and "live clean" had themselves all been former drug-users and/or criminals, and so she felt that they should not be considered to be viable/reliable helpers to prevent Khaila from relapsing.

by QuacksO September 21, 2018

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