Someone tries to make a point about something followed by someone else using this Stock Phrase to bring up a contradictory example. For example:
"Nothing can possibly go wrong. We're in love!"
"So were Romeo and Juliet."
"So were Romeo and Juliet."
Often makes correct use of something commonly used in an Analogy Backfire and/or lampshades Tempting Fate. Thus, it is usually the territory of the Genre Savvy and Deadpan Snarkers.
Super-Trope to Hitler Ate Sugar. Hitler Ate Sugar is supposed to argue that doing something is evil because someone else who was evil did it, too. So Was X is supposed to argue that someone or something could be incorrect or just as dangerous as something else (the X).
See also Appeal to Obscurity and You Know Who Said That?. Can overlap with Armor-Piercing Response.
Examples:
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Comic Books
- In the Judge Dredd Spin-Off series The Simping Detective, Jack Point lights up a cigar in Sector Chief Daveez's office and makes it clear that he knows Daveez played a significant role in a criminal case he was investigating and covered it up. Daveez responds by grabbing Point by his jacket lapels and threatening him to drop the case, the exchange ends:
Daveez: ...And smoking's still illegal, creep.
Jack: (points to the martini glass on his desk) Yeah. Heh, so's alcohol. - In Watchmen, an astonished Nite Owl doesn't understand how Ozymandias could be involved with the nefarious plot against costumed superheroes, when that character is such an incredibly good person as well as a vegetarian. Rorschach points out that Hitler was a vegetarian, too.
Film
- Dogma:
The Metatron: I am to charge you with a holy crusade.
Bethany Sloan: For the record, I work in an abortion clinic.
The Metatron: Noah was a drunk, and look what he accomplished — and no one's asking you to build an ark! - Inverted in Hard Candy, when Jeff says that being outed as a pedophile would ruin his life.
Hayley: Didn't Roman Polański just win an Oscar?
- In Johnny Mnemonic, Johnny insists that trying to make a deal with the evil corporation is a good idea, explaining that they'd be willing to make a deal because they're corporate.
Jane: So is the Yakuza.
- In Matilda, Miss Honey tries to show Miss Trunchbull how smart Matilda is:
Miss Honey: She can multiply large numbers instantly in her head.
Miss Trunchbull: So can a calculator. - My Fellow Ameeicans: When comparing their political achievements, Kramer points out that he was named Time Magazine's Man of the Year. Douglas quickly points out the Hitler also received that title. Kramer retorts the he, unlike Hitler, was named Man of the Year twice.
- Played for Laughs in Soap Dish:
David: I was under orders.
Celeste: So was Hitler! Oh, no, I don't mean Hitler, I mean the other guy.
David: Himmler? Hess?
Rose: Eichmann?
David: Eichmann.
Celeste: Yes! Eichmann! That's you! - Necessary Roughness has a moment where Dean Elias confronts journalism professor Suzanne Carter over her relationship with her (40-year old) student Paul Blake.
Suzanne: We're consenting adults!
Dean Elias: So were Bonnie and Clyde! - In Stripes, when thinking of how to rescue their platoon from Czech soldiers:
Russell Ziskey: Do the words "Act of war" mean anything to you?
John Winger: I have a plan.
Russell: Great. Custer had a plan, too.
Literature
- The Discworld novel Making Money makes this point regarding one of the Igors' "restorative concoctions."
Moist von Lipwig: Ah yes, Splot... It contained herbs and all natural ingredients. But belladonna was a herb and arsenic was natural.
- Holes: In the backstory, Madame Zeroni advised Elya Yelnats not to court Myra Menke, stating that her head was "as empty as a flowerpot". When Elya protests that she's beautiful, Zeroni retorts "so is a flowerpot".
- From P. G. Wodehouse's "Honeysuckle Cottage":
"Don't do it." said Mr McKinnon, a stout bachelor. "You're too young to marry."
"So was Methuselah," said James, a stouter. - In Jam, Tim voices concerns about the settlement in the Hibatsu building in that it's run like a corporation, with no regard for the lives of individuals. Don replies he doesn't care, because it's efficient. Tim points out that Nazi Germany was efficient, in response to which Don calls him out for invoking Godwin's Law.
- The Kraken Wakes: Two reporters are discussing a brilliant but somewhat eccentric oceanographer who is claiming that the mysterious fireballs falling from the sky over the deepest parts of the ocean, the discolouration of certain currents from a spike in sediment levels and the disappearance of several bathyscapes is a result of Alien Invasion. It is, by the way. One of them points out that however crazy the idea sounds, the man does have an explanation for more of these inexplicable events that are equally inexplicably happening simultaneously than anyone else. His colleague has the following response:
"So, undoubtedly, would Jules Verne."
- Thursday Next: From Lost In A Good Book:
- From Michael Stackpole's "Wolf and Raven":
A footnote written by Wolf: "Sure, the Beretta Viper 14 is old. So's gravity, but it still works."
Live-Action TV
- Paired with an unsavoury family revelation in the second season of Blackadder:
Blackadder: You're fired.
Baldrick: But my lord, I've been in your family since 1532!
Blackadder: So has syphilis. Now get out! - Criminal Minds has an example. Having caught a man who hunts humans for food. and recovered his stash, The team still has trouble locating Tracy Lambert, whom he is believed to have abducted. At this point, there had been entire search parties organized to locate her but each one turned up fruitless. They bring in a pastor who knows the suspect and was actively trying to locate Tracy. The pastor tells him that God is in everyone, an assertion at which the murderer smiles and says: "So is Tracy Lambert." right then the pastor remembers that the suspect had been serving homemade food at the search party organized by the church. Cue Heroic BSoD and No-Holds-Barred Beatdown delivered at the hands of the pastor. Luckily(or unfortunately) the detectives enter and stop him.
- Doctor Who:
- "Robot":
The Doctor: Never cared much for the word "impregnable." Sounds a bit too much like "unsinkable."
Harry: What's wrong with "unsinkable"?
The Doctor: Nothing. As the iceberg said to the Titanic.
Harry: What?
The Doctor: Gloop, gloop, gloop, gloop, gloop, gloop, gloop. - The same metaphor was revisited in the new series, "End of the World":
Jabe: This facility is purely automatic. It's the height of the Alpha Class. Nothing can go wrong.
The Doctor: Unsinkable?
Jabe: If you like. The nautical metaphor is appropriate.
The Doctor: You're telling me. I was on board another ship once they said that was unsinkable. I ended up clinging to an iceberg. It wasn't half cold.
- "Robot":
- From Dragnet episode "The Prophet", Brother William tries to convince Joe Friday of the benefits of drugs:
Brother William: I'm not only news, my friend, I make news. Big news.
Friday: So did Judas. - From The Jeffersons, during one of the many times George brags about his wealth:
George: I worked my way from the bottom up to the top!
Helen: So does a gopher! - Law & Order, the episode "Burned," after the prosecutors dig into a murder suspect's grandfather's past to see if the suspect's manic-depressive behavior runs in the family:
Jamie: Last year, [Carl Anderton, the grandfather] made a surprise takeover bid for Commonwealth Airlines. One week later, he withdrew the bid, and accused the FAA and the stockholders of conspiring against him. It's classic manic-depressive behavior.
Adam: Doesn't make sense. [He] runs a Fortune 500 company.
Jack: So did Howard Hughes. - From Lost:
Hurley: Do not open that! There's dynamite and it's mega-unstable.
Richard: I know that.
Hurley: Well, so did Dr. Arzt. And I was wiping him out of my shirt two days later. - In Monk, on the episode "Mr. Monk Takes the Stand," the D.A. worries Evan Gildea will walk because of his lawyer Harrison Powell:
D.A. Charles Friedken: Well, nobody's sleeping today. Harrison Powell is the Prince of Darkness, so be careful up there. Don't volunteer anything. If you don't remember something, just say you don't remember.
Natalie Teeger: But he's guilty, right?
D.A. Charles Friedken: So was O.J. - Star Trek: The Next Generation: When Wesley created advanced nanites for a school project and accidentally set them loose on the ship.
Guinan: Do you think you'll get a good grade?
Wesley: I always get an A.
Guinan: So did Dr. Frankenstein. - Two and a Half Men, episode "It's Always Nazi Week":
Alan: Let's just give it a chance. See how it works.
Charlie: That's what Poland said about the Germans.
Alan: Been watching the History Channel again?
Charlie: It's Nazi Week.
Alan: It's always Nazi Week.
Theater
- From Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street:
Toby: Get Pirelli's;
Use a bottle of it!
Ladies seem to love it—
Mrs. Lovett: Flies do, too!
Video Games
- In Metal Gear Solid, Otacon believes Sniper Wolf is not evil because she loves dogs. Snake points out that Hitler also loved dogs.
Visual Novels
- A Little Lily Princess: In her route, Lavinia eventually admits to her deep-seated fear that she'l never be able to find a romantic partner because she's half-Indian. Sara then reveals this was also the case of her mother, only for Lavinia to bring up the fact that Sara's mother was French, which contradicts the new reveal about her in her eyes. Sara then points out that Mariette, her clearly mixed-race maid, is French also.
Web Comics
- Stand Still, Stay Silent: After Onni has been in Deep Sleep long enough that he's had to be hooked up on IV, the children from the house it which he's been staying think he's dead and ask their mother if they should bury him. Their mother tells them he's not dead, just tired and needing to sleep.
Anna: That's what you said about the dead bird we found, too.
Web Original
- From the Marvel/DC Harry Potter Parody:
Professor X: You're the chosen one.
Spiderman: Yeah, so was Anakin Skywalker! And look how well that turned out! - The Music Video Show has a rather dark example of this in the fifth season episode.
"Some of you Jake Paul fans are watching this going, 'We're people too!'. Well, you know who else were people? The KKK." - Tasting History with Max Miller: In the episode on historic pizza, Max admits that the 16th century recipe for "pizza", a sweet, rose-scented flatbread, has precious little in common with modern Italian pizzas of any kind, but also points out that the same holds true for Chicago deep-dish.
- From The Tourettes Guy:
Man: The strongest, biggest creatures on Earth are vegetarians.
Danny's Dad: Yeah, like the brontosaurus, and look what happened to that asshole. - Zero Punctuation: The review of the 2013 Tomb Raider referred to Lara Croft's character development in the form of repeatedly bullying her with this line:
"So you can kill a man and take a machete like a champ. A concrete block can do that, but you can't kick one out the back of a moving truck and call that a character arc!"
Western Animation
- Family Guy: In "Pawtucket Pat", when Peter and Brian argue over whether to not to remove the town's statue of Pawtucket Pat after incriminating facts come to light.
Brian: We can’t leave a symbol like that in the town square. Pawtucket Pat was a horrible racist!
Peter: Well, so is Tucker Carlson, but we still say hi to him at the company picnic! - Futurama: In "The Honking", when the Professor explains the goings-on at an allegedly haunted mansion, including a painting with moving eyes.
Professor: It has motorized sensors attached to motion detectors.
Bender: So does my butt, but I don't frame it and put it on the wall! (beat) Although... - Mike, Lu & Og:
- In "Yo, Ho, Who?", when Mike asks Lu to accompany her to find pirate treasure, but Lu insists on sitting on her throne.
Lu: It's what princesses do.
Mike: You and those guys in tollbooths. Except they're useful. - In "Scuba Doobie Doo", Mike tries to reassure Lu when she complains of an "invader" (the mailman) coming to the island.
Mike: He's just delivering the mail! He'll be gone before you know it!
Lu: Oh, sure. That's what they said about you.
- In "Yo, Ho, Who?", when Mike asks Lu to accompany her to find pirate treasure, but Lu insists on sitting on her throne.
- The Simpsons: In "Cape Feare", when Grampa suggests calling Matlock to find out who wants Bart dead.
Bart: Grampa, Matlock's not real.
Grampa: Neither are my teeth. But I can still eat corn-on-the-cob if someone cuts it off and smushes it into a fine paste. Now that's good eatin'! - SpongeBob SquarePants:
- In "I'm Your Biggest Fanatic", SpongeBob fanboys over Kevin the sea cucumber, a famous jellyfish hunter. Kevin spends the episode abusing SpongeBob's naivete, eventually chasing and cornering him above a trench in a giant robotic jellyfish before revealing himself. When SpongeBob tells him he's his biggest fan, Kevin points to the bottom of the trench and says "So were they".
Guy in trench: Hey, look, everybody! Kevin's back!
- In "Sandy, SpongeBob and the Worm", when SpongeBob tries to convince Sandy not to fight the Alaskan bull worm:
SpongeBob: It's big, scary, and pink!
Sandy: So is Patrick's belly button, but I ain't afraid of that, neither.
- In "I'm Your Biggest Fanatic", SpongeBob fanboys over Kevin the sea cucumber, a famous jellyfish hunter. Kevin spends the episode abusing SpongeBob's naivete, eventually chasing and cornering him above a trench in a giant robotic jellyfish before revealing himself. When SpongeBob tells him he's his biggest fan, Kevin points to the bottom of the trench and says "So were they".
Real Life
- Seen on various message boards:
Hemlock is both natural and organic.
- From comedian Matt Kirshen:
Heroin is natural. Nicotine is natural. A pack of wild wolves is natural! Natural doesn't mean safe!note
- From comedian Matt Kirshen:
- The famous "90% of everything is crap" phrasing of Sturgeon's Law is an example, having been originally said in response to a statement that 90% of Science Fiction is crap, and the accompanying implication that this says anything about science fiction particularly.
- James Quirk, the editor of "Photoplay," on early 1920s attempts at sound film: "Talking pictures are perfected, says Dr. Lee De Forest. So is castor oil."
