# Harpocrates, Greek god of silence! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2010, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harpocrates-greek-god-of-silence/526080 "2010-01-23T04:58:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harpocrates-greek-god-of-silence/526080/21 "2013-06-12T00:38:19Z")
> [@Mike\_Freeland](#): > > Completely off-topic, but maybe someone here knows: There is a term for an argumentative device in which a person states “Anyone with any intelligence at all will agree that…” or the like. Can anyone tell me what that term is? It’s not _argumentum ad hominum_, though I imagine it’s a variation of it. More like a variant of the _[argumentum ad populum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_populum)_, I think, with a bit of _[appeal to vanity](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AppealToVanity)_ mixed in. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harpocrates-greek-god-of-silence/526080/22 "2013-06-12T01:26:39Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > So this harp is the wrong kind of musical instrument. And the Marxes weren’t Irish, but German. And Jewish, for those who think that’s an ethnicity. I’m not seeing the connection. > > If there was ever a situation set up for Occam’s Razor, it’s this one. Adolph played the harp, so he’s Harpo. Groucho and Zeppo are in dispute, but not Harpo. According to the wiki article on [Groucho](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groucho_Marx), when they were doing vaudeville, Harpo did originally play an Irish stereotype, pairing Chico’s Italian one. Groucho originally played a German stereotype, but dropped it during WWI: > [@](#): > > For a time in vaudeville all the brothers performed using ethnic accents. Leonard, the oldest, developed the Italian accent he used as Chico Marx to convince some roving bullies that he was Italian, not Jewish. Arthur, the next oldest, donned a curly red wig and became “Patsy Brannigan”, a stereotypical Irish character. His discomfort speaking on stage led to his uncle Al Shean’s suggestion that he stop speaking altogether and play the role in mime. Julius Marx’s character from “Fun In Hi Skule” was an ethnic German, so Julius played him with a German accent. After the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915, public anti-German sentiment was widespread, and Marx’s German character was booed, so he quickly dropped the accent and developed the fast-talking wise-guy character that became his trademark. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Freeland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/13edae/32.png) [@Mike\_Freeland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Freeland)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harpocrates-greek-god-of-silence/526080/23 "2013-06-12T04:33:11Z")
So Harpo’s silence was suggested by avuncular Al, not a nod to Harpocrates, the great and quietly mighty god of up-shutting. After 43 years, that question is finally put to bed. Occam’s razor strikes again - it \*is \*the simplest explanation. Thanks Mr. Piper, for that quote. There was a lot of info in that paragraph I’d never encountered. Grouchocrates was the author of one of my favorite paraphrases (only because I’m likely to screw it up if I called it a quote): _Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s too dark to read._ Did he also say “There’s not five minutes of opera I don’t like.”? Maybe that was Casey Stengel or Joe Biden. m [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/harpocrates-greek-god-of-silence/526080.md?page=1)