Vice

Vice (pronounced vahys)

(1) An immoral or evil habit or practice.

(2) Immoral conduct; depraved or degrading behavior.

(3) A particular form of depravity.

(4) A fault, defect, bad habit or shortcoming.

(5) A character in the English morality plays, a personification of a general or particular vice, serving as the buffoon (with initial capital letter).

(6) In clinical pathology, a physical defect, flaw or infirmity (archaic).

(7) Instead of; in the place of.

(8) A combining form meaning “deputy,” used in the formation of compound words, usually titles of officials who serve in the absence of the official denoted by the base word.  Can be (1) pre-nominal (eg vice-president) if serving in the place of or as a deputy for or (2) in combination (eg viceroy).

(9) Any of various devices, usually having two jaws that may be brought together or separated by means of a screw, lever, or the like, used to hold an object firmly to permit things to be done to it.

Meanings (1– 6); 1250-1300: Middle English, borrowed from the Anglo-French & Old French from the Latin vitium (a fault or defect) which charmingly persists in Modern Italian as vezzo (usage, entertainment).  In the English-speaking world, police vice-squads attested from 1905.  The French construction vice anglais (corporal punishment; literally "the English vice") dates from 1942.

Meanings (7-8): 1760–1770; From the Latin vice (instead of) ablative of vicis (genitive; not attested in nominative) (interchange, alternation).

Meaning (9): 1300–1350; From the Middle English vis, borrowed from the Old French vis (a screw), from the Latin vītis (vine, plant with spiralling tendrils).  From the early fourteenth century, the meaning "device like a screw or winch for bending a crossbow or catapult" was widely applied to any tool or appliance which winds.  Root was the Latin viere (to bind, twist) and was used to describe the modern vice meaning “clamping tool with two jaws closed by a screw”.

Vice Magazine, 13 December 2017.

Los Angeles based Vice Media on 15 May 2023 formally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a mechanism in US corporate law which protects insolvent companies from immediate action by their creditors, enabling them to continue trading while undergoing a restructure or as a prelude to sale as a going concern.  It was one of the better known (along with BuzzFeed) of the media creations of the internet age which have recently struggled in the unforgiving environment which has emerged as the post-pandemic, high inflation economy has unfolded while institutions like Instagram and TikTok have proved more attuned to the demographic once presumed to be their audience, thus the precipitous shrinking of a revenue base so reliant on advertising.  The magazine was founded in 1994 and, edgy before the term was in general use, was successful and it adapted well to the then embryonic digital world and in addition to a website, soon branched into film production, music distribution and publishing.  Audaciously (or so it at the time seemed to some), Vice took on news gathering and distribution, this at a time when people still read, paid for and were advertised to in printed newspapers.  Among what came to be called the “legacy media” however, the threat was thought real and News Corporation invested tens of millions of dollars in Vice; others took notice and a recently as 2017 Vice Media Group was valued at US $5.7 billion.  In a statement issued shortly after the Chapter 11 filing, Vice said it expected “…to emerge as a financially healthy and stronger company in two to three months”. In the circumstances that seemed optimistic but if an ongoing entity emerges it will be have to be very different to what Vice was, its high-cost model never adaptable to a business model in which free on-line content was sustained by advertising, even when such revenue was considerably higher than now.  Vice's lenders have agreed to provide US$20m to maintain the operation during “an orderly sale process”, during which other corporations or investors can submit bids.  If no sale is achieved, Vice Media's lenders will acquire all assets for US$225 million, the process is expected to take about two-three months.

Vice in the UK and US

In the sense of “deputy”, the use of vice in the UK (and the Commonwealth including Australia) can differ from that in US.  In the UK and Australia for example, a university vice-chancellor is really the CEO and the chancellor a ceremonial figurehead.  In the US a university president is in charge and their vice-president either an assistant or deputy.  It’s because these structures follow their respective country’s constitutional arrangements for government.  The UK has many such appointments, some of which became mere sinecures, others being active positions.  Vice-Admirals of the United Kingdom (and the earlier VAs of England and GB) have existed almost continuously since their creation in 1545 by Henry VIII and was the second most powerful office of the Admiralty, indeed until 1801, styled as Lieutenant of the Admiralty and the VA was deputy to the Lord High Admiral.  It’s another of those now honorary offices which litter the British establishment.

Portrait of Emma, Lady Hamilton (circa 1782), oil on canvas by George Romney (1734-1802).  Emma Hamilton (1765-1815) was the mistress of Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson (1758-1805) and muse of the society portraitist, George Romney.