Meanings
plural quiche-eaters
- humorousidiomaticcomputingIn computer programming circles, a person far removed from practice and concerned only with academic matters, unwilling to "get their hands dirty".
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA man who is effeminate or who lacks some putative masculine virtue.
Origin
The idiom derives from the book on stereotypes about masculinity, Real Men Don't Eat Quiche, by Bruce Feirstein, published in 1982. The computer circle version was popularised by a 1983 article Real Programmers Don't Use Pascal, that specifically accuses the creator of the Pascal language, Niklaus Wirth, of being a "quiche eater" due to the nature of Pascal.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
quiche-eater. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quiche-eater
“quiche-eater.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quiche-eater. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “quiche-eater,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/quiche-eater.
Source: quiche-eater on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.