Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Rent heads

I fan sfegatati del musical 'Rent' si chiamano 'Rent heads', come in 
"The 'Rent heads' will certainly come and see the movie...".
Ma mi chiedo: 'head' si applica solo a 'Rent' o si usa anche per altro?
Non mi pare ci siano "Harry Potter heads" o "Star Trek heads" (semmai 
si usa "trekkers" e "trekkies", anche se leggo un avvertimento: "Do not 
call trekkers 'trekkies'").
Ad ogni modo, qual è l'origine dell'uso "Rent head"? Si vuol dire che 
hanno 'Rent' nella testa, la loro testa pensa solo a quello?

 ha scritto nel messaggio 
news:j9GdncaxFtMiSJDQ...@giganews.com...
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Non so se è pertinente.. mai i fan dei Grateful Dead che non perdevano mai 
una data
venivano chiamati deadheads.

 venivano chiamati deadheads.
In effetti pare un uso molto simile.

):
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There are also such terms as "pothead (pot-head)" and "crackhead," referring 
to abusers of those drugs; "dumbhead," for someone who's not so smart, and 
the vulgar "sh!thead," for a persona non grata.
Those usages aren't exactly parallel, but will give you some idea of how the 
suffix -head can be used.
It seems to me that a lot of coined words using -head are pejorative in 
nature, like dumbhead and shithead --- oops --- sh!thead, etc.
In the instance you cited, it refers to rabid fans of the musical "Rent." As 
indaco pointed out, fans of the Grateful Dead are Deadheads.
(Note: There is a verb, "to deadhead," used in gardening, that refers to 
removing spent blossoms from flowering plants, to prevent them from going to 
seed, a process that supposedly stops the plant from wasting energy on 
producing seeds, thereby making that energy available for future budding and 
growth. Nothing to do with the Grateful Dead. Just FYI.)
-- 
Joey from NY

 "The 'Rent heads' will certainly come and see the movie...".
After the discussion about "Rent heads" and the like, I've been kind of 
obsessing about words ending in '-head.' Given my childhood, most of the ones 
that have come to mind are the insulting kind, but these insults aren't 
usually severe; they're mostly joking references to a person's (okay, MY) 
messing something up. "Egghead," is an exception. I didn't hear that one too 
often. :)
Here's what I came up with, an Abecedarium of sorts, but with some entries 
missing. Either my brain has blocked those, out of self-preservation, or 
there just aren't any entries for those letters.
Airhead - Not too smart: head is full of air.
Bonehead - Not too smart: head is chiefly bone.
Chowderhead (Probably mostly in New England) - Not too smart: brain is made 
up of chowder.
Dunderhead - Not too smart: brain is thundering. (Scots 'dunder': a 
resounding noise.)
Egghead - Super smart, an intellectual. (So I'm told.)
Fathead - Not too smart: brain is made of fat.
G (I've heard 'gearhead' used to refer to a mechanic or someone who's into 
things mechanical.)
Hothead - Quick-tempered.
I
Jughead - One whose ears stickout like jug handles: it implies someone who's 
not too smart.
Knucklehead - Not too smart: brain is a knuckle.
Lunkhead - Not too smart: A kind of tautology, since a 'lunk' is a stupid 
person to begin with.
Meathead - Not too smart: brain is basically just meat.
N (Nuthead might work, meaning someone who is -- you guessed it -- not too 
smart: head is a nut.)
O
Pighead(ed) (Usually used as an adjective) - Stubborn
Pinhead - Not too smart: head is the size of a pin.
Quahoghead - (Most definitely in New England) - Not too smart: brain consists 
of chowder made entirely of quahogs. (NB: I just made this one up. Also, note 
that 'quahog' is usually pronounced CO-hog.)
R
Sorehead - One who is often angry.
Thickhead - Not too smart: takes a lot to penetrate this head.
U
V
W
X
Y
Zoohead (Another neologism, coined by me) - One whose demeanor is all 
jumbled, from the expression "It's a zoo in here!" indicating a scene of 
chaos.
-- 
Joey from NY

 person to begin with.
At loggerheads - In or into a state of quarrelsome disagreement.
[To be continued]
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 [...]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHfUzPPq3Tc
-- 
"Saints should always be judged guilty until they are proved
innocent."
                -- George Orwell


Yes , it's used quite often to denote addiction - 'petrolheads' are obsessed 
with cars  (at least , in the UK) , etc.
Mike