square head

a square head is pretty much what it sounds like- a person or thing with a square head.
jack honan is a square head.
squarehead is a late 19th century ethnic slur directed at german and scandinavian immigrants. the phrase is meant quite literally as a disparaging reference to the cranial features, though often just used as a generic ethnic slur against those groups.

basically the stereotypical shape of a northern european’s head was thought to be square- so it was (and is) an insult to call someone with that ethnic makeup squarehead.
kid: “mommy, did you see how weird that norwegian’s head looked?”

mother: “yes dear, the f-cking squareheads do have unusually shaped skulls. the swedish have even more box-like heads… don’t even get me started on the danes or germans…”
contrary to other beliefs, square head is not a reference to the wwii helmets that the germans used. it is used in reference to the common shape in which many germans heads are shaped. dominating brow bones and a square jaw are what create this square look.
that square head ripped me off.
1. in the ‘olden days,’ some scandinavians were condidered — by some americans of the time — as beleiving what was told them, being rather naive in worldly matters and being somewhat easily conned and deceived — and consequently, were occasionally referred to as ‘squareheads.’

2. a late 19th century ethnic slur directed at german and scandinavian immigrants to north america.
used a coupla times in that great 1980 film. “the long riders” by randy quaid’s character, clell miller, “d-mn squareheads,” when referring to minnesotans.
a literally translated derogatory term used by french-canadians to describe english-canadians. but always spoken/written in it’s french form. can be used in a good natured way between friends. kind of the opposite of “frog”.
most english-canadians are unaware of it’s usage.

origin unknown.
quebec hockey players are better than square heads.
a derogatory nickname for germans during world war i, when germany was our enemy. they supposedly had large, square-shaped heads. see kraut.
it’s not nice to call germans squareheads.
word used by french canadians (see frogs, pepper or pepsi) to describe english speaking canadians.

the term square head refers to the way farm land was divided among the citizenry. the english had square farms whereas the french had rectangular strip farms stemming from a river. if you google map over quebec and manitoba you will clearly see the difference in farm shapes.

french canadians used strip rectangular farms connected to a river so that more farmers can have access to water (more fair and productive). they find the square shape “stupid”.

this is why it is an insult to call an english canadian a square head…
english canadian: “h-llo”
french canadian: “ta gueule estie d’tete caree” (shut-up square head).

square heads are puck hogs…