Date:  Mon, 4 Dec 1995 09:54:12 -0500

From:  Donald Larmouth <LARMOUTD[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]GBMS01.UWGB.EDU>

Subject: Re: -head



I suppose I'm obliged to point out that Packer fans are not the only

cheeseheads in Wisconsin; the term also refers to fans of the UW-Green Bay

men's basketball team. The UWGB pep band wore cheeseheads to our first NCAA

Division I tournament appearance and have worn them at subsequent appearances

in NCAA tournament games. Sportscasters covering UWGB's play against the likes

of Syracuse and California also used "cheesehead" to refer to UWGB fans.



The mascot of UWGB is the phoenix, which produces its own curiosities, since

sportswriters don't know what to make of the team name (e. g., phoenixes?).

Locally, the usual collective reference is "the phoenix" with plural verb

forms: "the UWGB Phoenix are hoping . . ." So far, I have not heard the

singular back-formation */finIk/ as in one */finIk/ two /finIks/.



I'll add "bubblehead" to the list of -head words. However, a bubblehead is not

a person; it's a type of dry fly in which deer hair is tied forward over the

hook eye and then pulled back and tied down, forming a "bubble" of deer hair

around the forward 1/4 of the hook shank. The resulting fly floats on the

surface, and its large head creates a fish-attracting disturbance which

twitched.



DWL