# Origin of "tinpot dictator"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-tinpot-dictator/348070
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 12, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-tinpot-dictator/348070 "2006-03-12T20:14:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-tinpot-dictator/348070/1 "2006-03-12T20:14:20Z")
Anybody know where the phrase “tinpot dictator” came from? Were there once countries with copper-pot dictators who looked down on the tinpots?
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### Author:  [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-tinpot-dictator/348070/2 "2006-03-12T20:36:39Z")
OED1 has _tinpot_ meaning 'resembling a tinpot in quality or sound; hence contemptuously, without solid worth, of inferior quality.
First cite in this sense is 1865. I don’t know when it was first applied to dictators, the phrase isn’t in OED1, so it probably is later than the 1920s. We’d need OED2/3 to track down a first cite.
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### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-tinpot-dictator/348070/3 "2006-03-12T20:41:00Z")
_Tin-pot_ used as an adjective to mean “cheap, inferior” goes back to at least the 1830’s. That’s using the on-line OED.
In general, you don’t find it used referring to dictators until the 1940’s.
I found a newspaper cite from 1906 which said “tin-horn dictator.” Same meaning I think.
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### Author:  [@Can\_Handle\_the\_Truth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Can_Handle_the_Truth)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-tinpot-dictator/348070/4 "2006-03-12T20:49:02Z")
I believe it refers to a child playing at being a soldier by wearing a tin pot for a helmet. It emphasises the dictator’s inflated view of himself.
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### Author:  [@Speaker\_for\_the\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Speaker_for_the_Dead)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-tinpot-dictator/348070/5 "2006-03-12T20:53:15Z")
> [@Can Handle the Truth](#):
>
> I believe it refers to a child playing at being a soldier by wearing a tin pot for a helmet. It emphasises the dictator’s inflated view of himself.
Whether this is true or not, I like the image it conjures the best. I think it captures the flavour of the term really well.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [March 12, 2006, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-tinpot-dictator/348070/6 "2006-03-12T20:57:48Z")
> [@Can Handle the Truth](#):
>
> I believe it refers to a child playing at being a soldier by wearing a tin pot for a helmet. It emphasises the dictator’s inflated view of himself.
This is what I’ve always thought. I hadn’t known about the earlier meaning.
The child-wearing-a-tin-pot explanation reminds me of _I, Claudius_ (or maybe it was _Caligula_) where the Emperor was called ‘Little Boots’ because he liked to play at being a soldier by wearing soldier’s boots that were too big for him. (Reminds me of a current leader, who shall remain nameless. 😉 )