Everbody knows that there are no free rides in this world and that a free-rider isn't getting a free ride, he's just not paying for it himself. Someone else is. In German, the word for free-rider -- "Trittbrettfahrer" (literally "footboard rider") -- can refer to the dishonest streetcar passenger who boards without a ticket. But it is also used to describe a larger social phenomenon of people who take without giving. The tax-payer who refuses to contribute to national security, but enjoys the protection of the military is the classic example.