eat the rich
English
Etymology
Attributed to the Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The original quotation was: “Quand le peuple n’aura plus rien à manger, il mangera le riche.” (“When the people shall have no more to eat, they will eat the rich.”)
Became popular in the 21st-century United States as an anti-capitalist motto in left-wing online communities.
Phrase
eat the rich
- (slang, politics, idiomatic) An expression of contempt towards capitalism and the rich, demanding an equitable redistribution of wealth.
- 1993, Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, and Jim Vallance (lyrics and music), “Eat the Rich”, in Get a Grip, Los Angeles: Geffen Records, performed by Aerosmith, track 2:
- Eat the Rich:there's only one thing that they're good forEat the Rich:take one bite now - come back for moreEat the Rich:I gotta get this off my chestEat the Rich:take one bite now, spit out the rest
- 2011 January, Diane Wiley, “Eat the Rich: Juror Questionnaires for White Collar Cases”, in The Jury Expert, volume 23, number 1, Timonium, Maryland: American Society of Trial Consultants, ISSN 1943-2208, page 43:
- There have been many cries to “eat the rich” over recent years in relation to white collar crime.
- 2018 June 7, Chris Hayes, “Democracia, ORDER”, in Circa Art Magazine, JSTOR 27029597, retrieved December 6, 2022:
- There is something thrilling about an artwork that does not just investigate, explore or expose questions about today, but makes explicit the injustices of the present system, proudly brandishing a call to eat the rich and fight a class war.
- 2019 November 28, Mark Olsen, “‘Knives Out’ Ending Explained: How Rian Johnson’s Socially Relevant Mystery Pays Tribute to the Past”, in Los Angeles Times:
- There's this whole cycle of eat-the-rich movies right now with “Joker” and “Parasite.” How do you feel knowing the movie you’ve made and then seeing those other movies coming out?
- 2022 July 10, Jordan Hoffman, “‘What, Are We Eating a Rolex?’ ‘The Menu’ Full Trailer Is Revealed”, in GoldDerby:
- The eat-the-rich movie is directed by Mark Mylod, whose recent work includes episodes of “Succession,” “Shameless,” and “Game of Thrones” […]
- 2022 November 4, Lilah Raptopoulos, quoting Ruben Östlund, “‘Triangle of Sadness’ with Director Ruben Östlund”, in Financial Times, London:
- First of all, I want to say I’m not a fan of the, how do I say, advertisement of the movie as an “eat the rich” movie because what I actually tried to do was to portray everybody as nice.
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Translations
expression of contempt towards the rich, capitalism and widespread poverty
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