Date:  Fri, 1 Dec 1995 08:54:00 CST

From:  Tom Murray <TEM[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]KSUVM.KSU.EDU>

Subject: *-head*



As DARE notes, and as most of the citations given thus far in this thread attes

t, compounds ending in *-head* tend to be derogatory. At a recent meeting of m

y department, however, the Chair refered to the folks who do literary theory as

 "theoryheads"--no sarcasm, no irony, no negative overtones of any sort. I don

't know how widespread *theoryhead* is; in fact, my Chair may have been engagin

g in a little friendly neology. (If so, the coinage neatly reflects just how a

ctive *-head* may be as a combining form.)