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stranger
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OP
stranger
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Hi. I'm from a German background. All my life, I've hear the term "squarehead" to describe Germans and Northern Europeans. Does anyone know the origin of this word?
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Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 164
member
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member
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 164 |
Raggedman, As far as I know, and I may be wrong, but the term “Squarehead” derived from the squarish helmets that were worn by German soldiers in the 1920's to the 1930's. This term was given to the Germans by the French. I am not entirely sure I have the dates correct, but I believe this is the era in which these helmets were worn. I have done a little searching and have found a site with pictures and information on German helmets so if you are interested here is the link, http://www.1944militaria.com/original_german_wwii_headgear.htm I hope this helps even a little, Rev. Alimae
Rev. Alimae
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
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Hello, raggedman and welcome to AWAD - you will be a welcome addition to the multi-culturalism that this board cherishes. Rev. Alimae might well be correct, now that I have seen the pictures (thanks for that, Ali - a useful site!) - I had previously assumed that it referred to the flat, short-cropped hair style adopted by the German Army during the 1914-18 war. But this was an assumption, not based on any primary research 
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veteran
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veteran
Joined: Jan 2004
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Eric Partridge in his Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English (1st ed.) says for square-head, or squarehead: "A Scandinavian, or especially in the Great War (i.e., World War I) and after, a German: colloquial: late 19th - 20th century. Ex (i.e., from) the shape of head. — 2. Earlier, a free immigrant: Australia: ca. 1870 - 1890. — 3. In cant (i.e., language of the underworld), an honest man: mid 19th - 20th century; obsolete." (I've expanded his abbreviations and added explanations in parentheses.) Hope this helps. I think the third definition is from square == true, as in "a square deal". I assume that AlimaeHP's "square" helmets are the ones that the German army wore from late WW1 until the end of WW2 (ca. 1917 - 1945). (They look very much like the helmets worn today by US troops, with the back half of the helmet lower on the head than the front, covering the ears.) Before that in WW1, the German army wore the Pickelhaube which is a small leather helmet with a metal "spike" (which for dress occasions was used to hold some decorative horse hair). And welcome to AWADtalk.
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Joined: Mar 2004
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stranger
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OP
stranger
Joined: Mar 2004
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Vielen Danke!
Thanks for the warm reception and good information! I'll have to come back quite often.
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Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Allo raggedman.
This may be an odd coincidence, but the French Québecers call English people squareheads too. They use the terms bloke (a bastardization of block) and tête carrée (square head).
They way I see it, it probably came from misunderstanding the British "bloke" for pal. To a French speaker, Bloke and Block sound the same. Block is square so voila - square head.
What is German for square?
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Aug 2000
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das Quadrat.
As an adj, it would be quadratisch - quadratischeköpf is probably what "square-head" would come out as.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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Even so, Herr Faldage - Quadrat is more to do with number than shapes (as in square-root, etc) now I come to think on't:
adj - vierlecklig
So - square-head = vierleckligköpf
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