Egg head
Egg head is a slang term that is used, sometimes derogatory, sometimes (self-) ironic , as a term for scientists. According to the prejudice of academics, the term is aimed at (semi-) baldness , which is particularly common among academics .
The term is applicable to an elongated oval head shape without derogatory meaning. In Europe, however, physiognomics has a long tradition, in which certain behavioral characteristics are inferred from external characteristics, especially of the face. In the 20th century this led to a comprehensive pseudoscientific teaching of phrenology , in which a number of characteristics of the person were deduced from a simple measurement of a skull .
The high forehead was one of the elements of the connection between the shape of the head and high intellectual performance, which in the Middle Ages led to a fashion for plucking the front hair. The positioning of forward-looking thinking in the frontal lobes of the brain supported this thesis in the early 20th century, further brain research related a pronounced middle bar to a broad combination ability. Although the distributions cannot be read from the outside, the acceptance in academic circles of the 20th century has led to the fact that academics were more likely to be bald than to pursue the symbol of full hair as an external health feature (for example with wigs or hair brushed over the head) .
A thesis of origin, in which egghead and academics go together, now relates to this acceptance of baldness and the fact that academics are seen bald more often in photos than other professions. For example, the term may have emerged as a nickname for teachers among the students, in which a person is identified using a conspicuous external characteristic, and the frequency of a class name may have emerged, which is the forerunner of the political term.
Political term
The origin of the derogatory use of the term is not fully understood. It is known, however, that the synonymous English term egg head apparently first appeared in the American election campaign in the 1950s. Richard Nixon used it in a negative way for his opponents - he called them aloof intellectuals who have lost their practical connection to realities and their demands. This designation was particularly fatal for the two-time presidential candidate of the Democratic Party, Adlai Stevenson , whose defeats against Dwight D. Eisenhower were not least due to his not very popular style.
Another thesis of the science fiction author Philip K. Dick puts the origin of the word in the time of National Socialism : Egghead was allegedly used by the National Socialists for intellectuals, as their skulls break easily when it is hit. This origin of the word is, however, unproven and probably fiction - possibly a retransmission from the fact that National Socialists initially tried to classify people racially based on the shape of the head.
Further use
- On the railroad , the expression egg head is colloquial for certain electric and diesel multiple units. The electric railcars ET 30 and ET 56 (series 430 and 456) as well as the diesel railcars VT 08 and VT 12 5 (series 613 and 612 ) of the Deutsche Bundesbahn were called egg heads due to the shape of their driver's cabs .
- In film and television technology, this expression is used for the incorrectly displayed circles or heads, which occurs when anamorphic wide images are shown with a normal lens or in 4: 3 format.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b egg head. In: Eierkopf (German), online dictionary Wortscheutung.info. 2019, accessed July 24, 2019 .
- ↑ Egghead, the. In: DWDS, digital dictionary of the German language, ed. vd Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences. 2019, accessed July 24, 2019 .