# What was the "Nazi" cliche before, ya know, the Nazis? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 22, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589 "2010-07-22T13:23:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/1 "2010-07-22T13:23:13Z")
Checking whether someone is illegally in the country is “Nazi”. The “Soup Nazi”'s restaurant is gleefully covered as being opened again. Roger Goodell runs the NFL “like a Nazi”… People on both sides of nearly any debate seem to throw around the term “Nazi” at each other. It’s become the overwrought tired cliche of the day. Which got me wondering… before the rise of Naziism into the public consciousness in the '30s and '40s, what was the go-to comparison for being authoritarian or controlling or whatever? ---
**Author:** ![clnilsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecccb3/32.png) [@clnilsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clnilsen)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/2 "2010-07-22T13:28:38Z")
I have read in some of the period works references to the “Huns” as a carry over from WWI. Somewhat redundant too… ---
**Author:** ![Keeve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@Keeve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Keeve)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/3 "2010-07-22T13:32:05Z")
Injuns? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/4 "2010-07-22T13:58:14Z")
Napoleon. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/5 "2010-07-22T13:59:15Z")
I would have guessed Prussian, but can’t find any good evidence. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/6 "2010-07-22T13:59:33Z")
Indians weren’t really controlling though. They were associated with being distructive, which is also sometimes associated with the Nazi’s, but the OP is asking for people that were considered to be the epitome of authoritarianism. Were WWI Germans particularly authoritarian compared to the other Europeans at the time? That’s not really something I associate with them. In the US, King George is (somewhat ahistorically) used as a term to mean a controlling tyrant. I imagine that was true before the Nazis as well. Obviously that would make less sense in Europe, though. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/7 "2010-07-22T14:08:23Z")
Tyrant. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/8 "2010-07-22T14:10:25Z")
> [@clnilsen](#): > > I have read in some of the period works references to the “Huns” as a carry over from WWI. Somewhat redundant too.. Or “Attila.” ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/9 "2010-07-22T14:14:44Z")
Weren’t Jews seen as conniving, greedy people before the Nazis? Although, I guess not controlling in a tyrannical way. Arabs? The Ottomans had a considerable empire back then. Interesting question. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/10 "2010-07-22T14:21:24Z")
Bloody cossacks. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/11 "2010-07-22T14:23:17Z")
Hessians? ETA, IDK, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/12 "2010-07-22T14:28:14Z")
We get this question a lot, so you should search for previous threads. Or not, because the answer is pretty much the same as “what was the greatest thing before sliced bread?” There wasn’t one. These expressions brought someone new into the language. Happens all the time. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/13 "2010-07-22T14:57:02Z")
Martinet ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/14 "2010-07-22T15:33:55Z")
> [@clnilsen](#): > > I have read in some of the period works references to the “Huns” as a carry over from WWI. Somewhat redundant too.. And Hun was a throwback to the tribe that overran Europe – Attila and all that. But there never was as good a real, all-purpose stereotype for an all-purpose authoritarian villain. Usually people would just call someone a “tyrant” and leave it at that. ---
**Author:** ![Alpha\_Twit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpha_twit/32/265_2.png) [@Alpha\_Twit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpha_Twit)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/15 "2010-07-22T15:37:20Z")
Yankee! ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/16 "2010-07-22T15:48:17Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Were WWI Germans particularly authoritarian compared to the other Europeans at the time? That’s not really something I associate with them. I recently finished reading “Three Men on the Bummel”, by Jerome K. Jerome, published in 1900. It’s the follow-up to the better-known “Three Men in a Boat”, and is a humorous account of a bicycle trip through Germany. Towards the end, Jerome spends quite a bit of time expounding on the German national character. While generally positive, his account does have as a main theme the idea that the activity of the average German consists largely of doing what the local authorities tell him to do, and that if those authorities were to disappear, he would be at a loss. I remember one particularly chilling passage: “Hitherto, the German has had the blessed fortune to be exceptionally well governed; if this continue, it will go well with him. When his troubles will begin will be when by any chance something goes wrong with the governing machine.” ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/17 "2010-07-22T16:10:19Z")
Zealot? ---
**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 22, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/18 "2010-07-22T16:43:58Z")
\*\*Prussian \*\*used to be a common synonym for authoritarian, officious, militaristic. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/19 "2010-07-22T16:57:00Z")
And the Nazi stereotype is essentially just the Prussian sterotype made explicitely evil. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589/20 "2010-07-22T17:01:59Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Were WWI Germans particularly authoritarian compared to the other Europeans at the time? That’s not really something I associate with them. No, but as cjepson and Beware of Doug both say, there is an air of militarism. I remember reading about a case where a man in Prussia impersonated some VIP, and no one ever questioned him about it because he was wearing a uniform – does anyone recall more about it? It would have occurred in the late 1800s. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-nazi-cliche-before-ya-know-the-nazis/547589.md?page=2)