scratch a Russian and you find a Tartar

scratch a Russian and you find a Tartar
The proverb is also used allusively, especially of other nationalities. Cf. Fr. grattez le Russe et vous trouverez le Tartare, scratch the Russian and you will find the Tartar (attributed to Napoleon).

1823 J. GALLATIN Diary 2 Jan. (1914) 229 Very true the saying is, ‘Scratch the Russian and find the Tartar.’

c 1863 J. R. GREEN in Notes & Queries (1965) CCX. 348 They say, if you scratch a Russian you always find the Tartar beneath.

1899 F. A. OBER Puerto Rico xii. Scratch a Puerto Rican and you find a Spaniard underneath, so the language and home customs of Spain prevail here.

1911 Spectator 2 Dec. 964 Until a short time ago the aphorism, ‘Scratch a Russian and you find a Tartar,’ was the sum of British comprehension of the Russian character.

1947 J. FLANNER in New Yorker 31 May 6 Scratch a Pole and you find a Pole, even if he is a Communist.

1967 D. BLOODWORTH Chinese Looking Glass xxxiv. Mao..discovered many years ago that you only had to scratch a Russian Communist to find a Tatar.


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