Old Traverers/Travel Nazis

[frindle2]

Hello. Would you please explain more about Old Travelers and Travel Nazis?
I wonder why they called Travel Nazis. (though the writer says they are identified by their dreadlocks, tribal tattoos, and general scruffiness)
I also want to know what "supernatural ability to bore" means in this context.
Thank you.


----from Le Road Trip by Vivian Swift
Dharma Bums go by many names. Old Travelers is what Mark Twain called them in his day, those millionaires on the Grand Tour.
Lately, I've heard them called Travel Nazis-identified by their dreadlocks, tribal tattoos, and general scruffiness.
In any case, beware the Dharma Bums. They are the self-appointed experts on the Truth of Travel. They have already been everywhere, seen everything,
become enlightened twice before breakfast, and done it for less money, in half the time, and with more authenticity than you ever could.
What they have in common, Mark Twain warns, is a "supernatural ability to bore." Us vegabonds have to resist the urge to turn into Dharma Bums, and to never forget the Number One Rule of the Road: Travel never made anyone interesting.

 

[Tdol]

The term Nazi is often used for someone who is a self-appointed expert who wants to tell others how they should behave. These people with the dreadlocks think they know more, have travelled further, and more authentically because they have spent less money doing it. They manage to be superhumanly boring to other people- their ability to bore people seems to be beyond the normal scope of humans. Old travelers have great experience of places and will tell new arrivals things they need to know, whether they want to listen or not.

 

[GoesStation]

I find this usage highly offensive and would discourage anyone from adopting it. Real Nazis murdered millions of innocent people, forced many millions to live in utterly deprived conditions, and destroyed countless treasures of all sorts. Using Nazi to mean "mildly irritating person" is a slap in the face to those whose lives were taken or ruined by real Nazis.

 

[Tdol]

I'm afraid that this usage is not uncommon in BrE.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Also, note that Dharma Bum is an expression coined by American author Jack Kerouc. It means "beatnik":

http://www.stevenmarx.net/2013/10/beatnik-buddhism-in-jack-kerouacs-the-dharma-bums-2/

Also note that she isn't saying that she calls them Travel Nazis - just that some people do. The expression doesn't make much sense, since Nazis were the furthest thing imaginable from the scruffy wanderers she's describing.

However, it's also interesting to note that some of Nazi thinking was developed by young Germans who, before World War I, were part of a "Wandervogel" movement that stressed freedom, adventure, national pride, and - travel. After World War I, it blended with a scouting movement that enjoyed uniforms and group activities. It became a broad youth movement. These were some of the seeds of Naziism. See:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wandervogel

So in a way, wandering beatniks and marching Nazis have something in common, after all.

 

[Tdol]

Godwin's Law helps explain some of the trivialisation of the issue.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Godwin's Law helps explain some of the trivialisation of the issue.

Reductio ad Hitlerium! I love it! Thanks!

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

By the way, Frindle2, "supernatural ability to bore" means they're impossibly boring. Have you looked up "supernatural"?

Also, did you notice how the made-up word "vegabond" relates to Old Travelers, Travel Nazis, and Dharma Bums?

 

[Skrej]

I'm afraid that this usage is not uncommon in BrE.

It's widely used in AmE as well. Probably the most common context I hear is "Grammar Nazi", used for a person who corrects others grammar in online comment sections, or other social networking platforms.

I always get a chuckle when I see somebody say "Don't be a Grammer (sic) Nazi"

 

[emsr2d2]

I frequently see it uncapitalised, which perhaps lessens the impact of the use of the word.

He's a grammar nazi.

 

[Tdol]

I always get a chuckle when I see somebody say "Don't be a Grammer (sic) Nazi"

At least they didn't say that Grammer Nazis are loosers (sic, sic). Music Nazi is also common for people who listen to obscure unlistenable music and inflict it on others.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Or, in this forum, Grammer Nazis r loosers (sic, sick [sic], sic).

You're getting pretty loose, yourself!

 

[frindle2]

By the way, Frindle2, "supernatural ability to bore" means they're impossibly boring. Have you looked up "supernatural"?

Also, did you notice how the made-up word "vegabond" relates to Old Travelers, Travel Nazis, and Dharma Bums?

I understand what "supernatural" means here. I was confused "they make others bore" or "they have no interest others".
Now I understand thanks to all these replies. Thanks again.

I also understand the writer tries to tell us not to be "Old Travelers, Travel Nazis, or Dharma Bums" and be "vegabonds".

 

[emsr2d2]

... "they make others bored" or "they have no interest in others".

Note my corrections above.

 

[Rover_KE]

What they have in common, Mark Twain warns, is a "supernatural ability to bore." Us vegabonds have to resist the urge to turn into Dharma Bums ...

Did Vivian Swift actually write 'Us vegabonds'?

That makes them sound like vegetarian tramps.

Read it as 'We vagabonds ...'

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Did Vivian Swift actually write 'Us vegabonds'?

That makes them sound like vegetarian tramps.

Read it as 'We vagabonds ...'

I think "vegabonds" is just another of her many quips. The way I read it, she's a traveling vegetarian (a vegabond) who's tired of being lectured by hipper-than-thou travelers, a.k.a. Dharma Bums.

It actually looks like it might be a pretty funny book.