German vice

English

Etymology

From various authors' descriptions of certain vices as particularly common or representative among the German. In reference to homosexuality, a calque of French vice allemand, following the prominent outing of Friedrich Alfred Krupp in late 1902.

Pronunciation

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Noun

the German vice (uncountable)

1. (derogatory, potentially offensive) Euphemistic form of alcoholism or drunkenness.
   • 1988, Jasper Ridley, A Brief History of the Tudor Age::

     The Englishman had a reputation throughout Europe for gluttony; it was said that overeating was the English vice, just as lust was the French vice and drunkenness the German vice. Some Englishmen became very fat, and were famous for being so. Henry VIII ate enormous meals, but as a young man he was slim, perhaps because he always took a great deal of physical exercise. By the time that he was forty-five he was suffering from painful ulcers in his leg which prevented him from riding or walking without the greatest difficulty; but though he ceased to take exercise, he ate as much as ever. He then became very fat.

2. (derogatory, potentially offensive) Euphemistic form of homosexuality.
   • 1994, Lise Noël, translated by Arnold Bennett, Intolerance: A General Survey, page 95:

     Sexuality is frequently associated with foreign places in the dominant discourse, especially when the phenomenon being considered assumes an automatically negative connotation. The Romans held the Greeks responsible for homosexuality, while the latter attributed it to the Persians and the peoples of the Near East; in the Middle Ages, westerners blamed the Muslims... Depending on the period and the context, love between men would also be denounced as the "Indochinese vice" or the "Arab vice" (by the colonizers)... and the "English vice" (by the French) or the "French vice" (by the English)... when everyone did not agree that it was the "German vice".

3. (derogatory, potentially offensive) Euphemistic form of obedience.
   • 2011, Nicholas Freeling, Criminal Conversation, page 97:

     The national character, he thought vaguely, is a thing about which a lot of nonsense is spoken and believed. They are very proud of what they call 'sobriety'—spoken of as the national virtue daily. Looking at both-sides-of-the-penny, down-to-earth, you-can't-fool-me... If hypocrisy is the English vice, and vanity the French vice, and obedience the German vice, then surely sobriety is the Dutch vice.

Related terms

• English vice, French vice, Oriental vice

Translations

Translations

• French: vice allemande

References

• Picturing ‘The German Vice’