I was reading Orson Scott Card’s Alvin Maker series the last two days when a third of the way through book four, Alvin Journeyman, I ran into the common phrase “talking through his hat.”
Given the setting of the story, I got to think about prophesying and fortunetellers, and various mountebanks.
Then I remembered some stuff I had run into, and mentioned here:
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=52512#post997338
On how Josephs Smith translated the book of Mormon.
Apparently he did it sticking his head in his hat, in which was supposedly a smooth stone which enabled him to see visions.
So, is this the origin of the phrase? Was this a common soothsaying tradition, now lost?
Ok, now I’m embarassed.
This is the first time I have posted in the wrong forum. 
Could anyone move it to General Questions, or Great Debates?
Given the subject matter, probably Great Debates. That’s the forum I thought I was in…
Hmmm… the fact that Kyber had trouble telling the difference between Great Debates and the Pit may lend a little support to Duck Duck Goose’s rant! 
In point of fact, some of the references (from anti-LDS sites) that were posted on an earlier thread about the orignis of the Book of Mormon support Kyber’s speculation. Although without researching the earliest cites for “talking through [one’s] hat” in the OED (which I don’t have available) evaluating Kyber’s hypothesis is not possible.
Any Mormons care to comment to the allegation cited in the OP? Anybody with OED access want to check this out?
I started reading this and I’m thinking “Whoa! A thread about OSC. How cool!” Then I thought “In the pit? Who has a rant against him? What did he do?” Then I get to the end and I’m upset. No rant and I can’t even answer the question for you. I’ll try to find out for you though.
Isn’t Orson Scott Card a Mormon himself? I know he used to be…
Lots of his books mix Mormon references in with the storylines. If I remember correctly, one of the reviews on the jacket of “Folk of the Fringe” was from a LDS organization of some sort commending him on contributing to the unexplored field of Mormon sci-fi.
Apparently the reviewer had never heard of Battlestar Galactica.
i thought this was about me for a sec…
i didn’t remember pissing anyone off, except the mods accidentally. scared me…
carry on
Kyberneticist,
I’ve checked with a few people that might know the answer and their only response was that “talking through his hat” wasn’t a Mormon reference at all. It was just slang for BSing, talking out of the corner of his mouth, etc. Can you give me a page number or approximate place(s) in the book that you found the phrases so I can see them in context?