# There was this guy? Called Hitler? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 18, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941 "2005-07-18T03:50:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/58956e/32.png) [@cabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cabdude)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/1 "2005-07-18T03:50:15Z")
[Hitler doodles for sale](http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15926022-13762,00.html) I’m not concerned about the rights or wrongs of this, what concerns me is this line; > [@](#): > > Hitler, German chancellor from 1933 to 1945, unleashed World War II when his armies invaded Poland in 1939. > > His racial policies led to the Holocaust, the organized massacre of some 6 million European Jews, largely at concentration camps such as Auschwitz. Is it really necessary to explain who Hitler was? Are there really people out there who read the article and ask, “hmmm, who was this Hitler guy, anyway?” ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/2 "2005-07-18T03:57:14Z")
Gotta reach the minimum word count. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/3 "2005-07-18T04:09:47Z")
> [@cabdude](#): > > “hmmm, who was this Hitler guy, anyway?” He was Godwin’s lawyer. d&r ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/4 "2005-07-18T04:16:01Z")
A refresher in history, nothing wrong with that. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/5 "2005-07-18T04:18:18Z")
How’s the rest of that limerick go? ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/6 "2005-07-18T04:37:52Z")
This one time? At bandcamp? ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/7 "2005-07-18T05:11:44Z")
Hitler? Played the flute? ---
**Author:** ![Muad\_Dib](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/35a633/32.png) [@Muad\_Dib](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muad_Dib)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/8 "2005-07-18T05:16:44Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > How’s the rest of that limerick go? There once was a man named Hitler. Towards the Jews, he was very bitter. He woke up one day. And decided to do them away. The European Jew became a very rare critter. ---
**Author:** ![Sarah\_Woodruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sarah\_Woodruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarah_Woodruff)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/9 "2005-07-18T08:08:11Z")
> [@cabdude](#): > > **There was this guy? Called Hitler?** Isn’t that a line from a _King Missile_ song? They’ve already told us that _Jesus was way cool, man._ Why not another historical portrait? ---
**Author:** ![Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Buckler\_of\_Swashing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buckler_of_Swashing)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/10 "2005-07-18T08:29:55Z")
Almost every other response was amusing, so I hate to break with the trend… But I think, while you make a fair point **cabdude** - and one with which I pretty much agree (It _shouldn’t_ be necessary to give hints as to who someone with the historical relevance of Hitler might actually _be_) - it’s when they stop doing that - giving the background information - that people will start to actually need to ask for it. That might not make sense, lemme just recap. It would only take one or two generations of people refering to Hitler (or anything) with absolutely NO back-up info attached, before it would become an intellectually rousing Trivial Pursuit victory to give the right answer to the questions about him. Of which there are many. I checked. 😛 And yes, I realise that just about everybody ought to be learning about it in school etc etc. But I think you see my point, anyway. There are always going to be people who just ‘don’t know’ about something. Even things as socially pervasive as Hitler, The Beatles, Google etc etc. Maybe not many, but even so. It might seem silly to us, and maybe we should just expect anyone who goes ‘huh?’ to go look it up, but not everybody is as totally research orientated as, say, Dopers. 😉 In fact a lot of people (in my experience), tend towards the ‘I don’t know about that, so I’ll avoid it and move on’ camp. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/11 "2005-07-18T08:45:42Z")
[sub](sorry, couldn’t resist)[/sub] Is it true that the only 2 people that The New York Times feels need no first name are 1. Hitler and 2. Freud? Is news.com.au merely remembering that it has readers in Queensland? ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/12 "2005-07-18T09:50:06Z")
From Queensland, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/13 "2005-07-18T11:29:29Z")
> [@](#): > > Hitler doodles From Nabisco. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/14 "2005-07-18T11:44:49Z")
I’ve seen little blurbs like that explaining who Stalin was, too. It’s a little troubling that things like that are needed. On the other hand, when I was younger, I would’ve liked a few such blurbs, because writers too often assumed that you knew who they were talking about (implying that, if you didn’t know, you weren’t worth bothering with). So for years I was scratching my head when someone wrote “Dorothy Parker said…” or “As Dean Swift wrote” or “As Bishop Wilberfiorce said…” without a word about who these people were, or when they lived, or what the context even was. Nowadays I know who Parker was, and have her books, but would it have killed someone back then to note that, besides being a coiner of witty and risque _bon mots_, she was primarily a writer and critic? ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/15 "2005-07-18T12:04:05Z")
“Lettuce, Cheese Whiz, Have Eva get her dog fixed.” ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/16 "2005-07-18T13:09:22Z")
I gotta say I like snickerdoodles much better than Hitler doodles. ---
**Author:** ![RandomLetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8edcca/32.png) [@RandomLetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandomLetters)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/17 "2005-07-18T13:20:57Z")
[QUOTE=Buckler of Swashing] There are always going to be people who just ‘don’t know’ about something. Even things as socially pervasive as Hitler, The Beatles, Google etc etc. Maybe not many, but even so. /QUOTE] Feeling a bit sheepish here, but who/what are “The Beatles”? 😕 Some old band? I know the other two, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/18 "2005-07-18T13:34:27Z")
You know, even with culturely pervasive things, you gotta heard about them first at some point. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/19 "2005-07-18T13:36:32Z")
> [@RandomLetters](#): > > Feeling a bit sheepish here, but who/what are “The Beatles”? 😕 Some old band? I know the other two, of course. Don’t worry - they’re just a guitar group, which are on the way out anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2005, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941/20 "2005-07-18T14:08:11Z")
[Charlton Heston]Hitler Doodles are made of…[/CH] Not every cultural reference is understood by everyone as time goes on. I once heard the facetious line “Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?” but that is already obsolete. The beatles broke up what, 35 years ago? No one is disputing their impact on music but for someone younger it’s probably like listening to grandma talk about the depression. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/there-was-this-guy-called-hitler/312941.md?page=2)