Milk beard
A milk beard is a male young adult who appears immature or inexperienced and who may not be fully up to his task. The name alludes to the clearly visible remains of milk beverages that remain on the upper lip or the areas of skin around the mouth while drinking and are often not wiped off by children .
literature
A literary testimony to this use of the expression milk beard can be found in the opening chapter of Thomas Mann's novel Royal Highness : “The lieutenant is very young, a milk beard, half a child.” The term milk soup , which has a similar meaning for example, is comparable . B. is used by Theodor Fontane , for example for the young Count in Stine or for Leopold Treibel . However, this expression does not necessarily have to do with the young age of the person in question, but rather with their weak appearance.
advertising
In the 1990s, the milk beard in the United States attracted attention beyond the domestic sphere, when photos of celebrities with such a milk mustache in the well-known American advertising campaign for milk products Got Milk? were used. This idea was also copied in other countries.
Jargon
- The red rash in scarlet fever soon spreads all over the body. Only the mouth area is left out. This perioral paleness, that is, around the mouth, is also known as milk beard .
- There is also the name milk mouth for the head badge of horses with a white mouth.
literature
- Bernie Hogya, Sal Taibi: The milk mustache book. A behind-the-scenes look. Ballantine, New York 1998, ISBN 0-345-42729-7
