conehead

n. a scientist; a brainy person. Also cone. Subjects: English, Science

Editorial Note: Probably influenced by pointy-head ‘a brainy or intellectual person.’ Despite what the 1997 citation says, this term is probably also influenced by a series of skits and a movie about the Coneheads, hyper-literal and unemotional space aliens played by Jane Curtin and Dan Aykroyd, which first aired in 1976 on the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live. Cone meaning ‘the head’ dates to at least as early as 1870.

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Citations: 1986 Clifford Terry Chicago Tribune (July 25) “No Apologies Needed For This HBO Movie” p. C5: The U.S. government’s CIA-like “Office of Investigations"…proceeds to form the elite- but-unorthodox C.A.T. (Counter Assault Tactical) Squad, rather than going with the usual operatives ("a bunch of Ivy League coneheads spinning their wheels all over the world"). 1997 Tom Sharpe Albuquerque Journal (N.M.) (Jan. 10) “The New Mexican Lexicon” p. 1: Conehead. This has nothing to do with the space-alien routine made famous on Saturday Night Live. In Los Alamos, it means scientist, stemming from the unflattering “pointy-headed”—meaning too intellectual. Somehow, the folks at the lab have turned it into a badge of honor. They might say of someone whose intellect is in doubt, “His cone isn’t all that sharp.” 1999 Martin Forstenzer Ski (Feb. 1) “Remember Los Alamos” vol. 63, no. 6, p. 58: People joke about the lab guys being coneheads—people who are all brains and live with a computer and that’s it. 2004 Alicia Chang Tulsa World (Okla.) (Oct. 31) “For scientist, it’s milking time down on the snail farm” p. A28: Bingham, a biochemist at Clarkson University, is a self- described “conehead” whose livelihood depends on scuba diving for tropical marine cone snails and coaxing them to discharge their venom in his laboratory. 2004 Santa Fe New Mexican (Dec. 20) “Getting A Glimpse At Lanl’s Challenges” p. A7: Many Northern New Mexicans hired to do the construction and upkeep have tales about “coneheads” keeping ’em at bay when they show up to perform carpentry, plumbing or electrification jobs. 2005 CBSNews.com (Aug. 7) “Los Alamos’ Future Up In The Air” (in Los Alamos, N.M.): Where scientists are never addressed as doctor because everyone has a Ph.D.; instead they’re affectionately known as “cones” as in cone heads.

Posted 9 Aug 05 | Permalink | Tell a Friend