Hilter's Mustache - Blog Day Afternoon Posted by Jeff (Sunday June 12 2005 @ 11:10PM EDT)

Some time ago - perhaps longer than either of us care to remember, Monz pondered Hilter's mustache. "Do you think they had a name for that style?" Despite four years of European history, I had absolutely no idea what it was called. "Perhaps a Tyrolean?" he asked. Why not? It sounded as good as anything. Today I've stumbled upon the answer. Hilter's mustache was known in Bavarian dialect as a Rotzbremse. In low German it was probably called a "Schnurrbart." Please note the past tense. Despite its practicality, the "snot brake" has fallen out of vogue. Fashions tend to lose favor after a popular standard-bearer indiscrimately kills more than five million people. Beyond the stigma attached to murderous death, Kleenex has since added aloe which has rendered repetitive nose blows less painful than in 1923.

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By Monz (Monday June 13 2005 @ 08:04AM EDT)

Do you think that if Hitler sported a mullet, it would have fallen permanently out of vogue as well?

[ reply | parent ]

By Jeff (Monday June 13 2005 @ 08:45AM EDT) That's a tough one. There is no species more persistent and resiliant than the mullet. It's ability to adapt to changing circumstances sets it apart from greasers, beehives and pompadours. In this regard, it is rivaled only by the comb-over. If I had to guess the mullet would have reinvented itself in such a way that five million racially motivated murders would have been nothing but a thing. [ reply | parent ]

By The Pragmatist (Monday June 13 2005 @ 09:32AM EDT)

Aren't both just generic names for mustache? I assumed you were looking for something like "handlebar" or the "colenel major" or the "bandito"? Here, Tom Selleck is descirbed as having the coolest Rotzbremse since alternately, Kaiser W or Burt Reynolds.

[ reply | parent ]

By Monz (Monday June 13 2005 @ 10:08AM EDT) That's a shame. I kinda liked the name "snot break" as a style of mustache. [ reply | parent ]

By Jeff (Monday June 13 2005 @ 11:49AM EDT) The generic word is "moustache." I discovered the term was applied specifically to Hitler's style during a moment in which Putzi Hanfstangle implored the uncooth Hitler to rid himself of his Rotzbremse by at least growing out the sides. Hitler claimed the style would become popular among all classes simply because he was wearing it. According to the author who described the exchange, "Rotzbremse" was Bavarian dialect for a "snot brake." [ reply | parent ]

By The Pragmatist (Monday June 13 2005 @ 02:24PM EDT) Then it's still a puzzle how Tom Selleck's Oberlippenbart could also be described as a Rotzbremse. Seems not specific enough to Hitler's style. Could be any shortish mustache. This looks like a useful guide. [ reply | parent ]

By Jeff (Monday June 13 2005 @ 02:37PM EDT) It's my sense that the term outlived it's prototypical style. Monz seemed to enjoy it. Why retire a word simply because the style it described fell out of fashion? [ reply | parent ]

By The Pragmatist (Monday June 13 2005 @ 10:49PM EDT) So your theory is that the style most closely associated with Hitler became a more generic term covering a wider range of mustaches? [ reply | parent ]

By Monz (Monday June 13 2005 @ 03:12PM EDT)

I think that next Winter I'll grow me a Snot Break. Or maybe I'll grow a Fu-Man-Chu which I believe translates as a "Drool Catcher".

[ reply | parent ]

By Diana (Tuesday June 14 2005 @ 02:21PM EDT) Please don't. [ reply | parent ]

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