# Pointy-headed liberal **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 31, 2009, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointy-headed-liberal/508370 "2009-08-31T17:11:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![docfeetz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@docfeetz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/docfeetz)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointy-headed-liberal/508370/21 "2010-10-29T19:54:47Z")
As I was donning my faculty regalia for graduation a few weeks ago where I teach, one of the other faculty members asked for help with his doctoral cap because it was crooked. It has four points and the way he had it tilted, it made him look pointy-headed. I joked with him that maybe that’s where the term “pointy-headed intellectual” came from - professors wearing their academic caps with the points. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointy-headed-liberal/508370/22 "2010-10-29T21:11:54Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Wouldn’t an intellectual be the last person to have a pointy head? The “egg-head” stereotype for intellectuals seems more like it. Ah yes, but the insult is, inevitably, being used by those who are _not_ intellectuals, and who are thus too dumb to understand this. Seriously, it is a stupid insult, that makes no damn sense, used by stupid people. As applied to liberals rather than specifically to intellectuals, it is even more stupid: it is basically saying "“I despise liberals because they are smarter than I am.” As arguments against liberalism go, that is about as stupid as you could get. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointy-headed-liberal/508370/23 "2010-10-30T00:31:50Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Wouldn’t an intellectual be the last person to have a pointy head? The “egg-head” stereotype for intellectuals seems more like it. Well, that’s kinda the nature of idioms. They don’t mean the sum of the literal components. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointy-headed-liberal/508370/24 "2010-10-30T01:58:53Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Ah yes, but the insult is, inevitably, being used by those who are _not_ intellectuals, and who are thus too dumb to understand this. > > Seriously, it is a stupid insult, that makes no damn sense, used by stupid people. > > As applied to liberals rather than specifically to intellectuals, it is even more stupid: it is basically saying "“I despise liberals because they are smarter than I am.” As arguments against liberalism go, that is about as stupid as you could get. As Ronald Reagan once said, “The problem with our liberal friends isn’t that they are ignorant; it’s that they know so much that just isn’t so.” And as William F. Buckley once said, “I’d sooner be governed by the first 2,000 names in the Boston phone directory than by the faculty of Harvard University.” Conservatives don’t think ill of liberals because they think liberals are genuinely smarter than they are. Trust me. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointy-headed-liberal/508370/25 "2010-10-30T02:03:59Z")
The line is, of course, Mark Twain’s. As a wit, Reagan was both good and originial. Unfortunately, what was original wasn’t good, and what was good wasn’t original. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointy-headed-liberal/508370/26 "2010-10-30T02:14:26Z")
I always assumed that “pointy-headed” was just a derivation of “egg-headed” - both associated bald-headedness with being a liberal intellectual (with the point being your head supposedly rising above your hair). Being as the terms seem to originate in the early sixties, I assume the association was based on Adlai Stevenson, who was a famous bald-headed liberal intellectual in that period. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointy-headed-liberal/508370/27 "2010-10-30T02:38:46Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Conservatives don’t think ill of liberals because they think liberals are genuinely smarter than they are. Trust me. I am sure that is not the only reason why conservatives think ill of liberals, or the main one, or any sort of reason why smart conservative intellectuals (yes I believe they exist), or even you, think, ill of liberals, but conservatives (or any people, actually) who use this ridiculous insult are both displaying and reveling in their own dumbness (or else they are pandering to the dumber amongst their potential supporters). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointy-headed-liberal/508370/28 "2010-10-30T02:46:46Z")
Is it too late to change my answer? More than an year later, I don’t remember if I was serious, or if I was joking. > [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I always assumed that “pointy-headed” was just a derivation of “egg-headed” - both associated bald-headedness with being a liberal intellectual (with the point being your head supposedly rising above your hair). Being as the terms seem to originate in the early sixties, I assume the association was based on Adlai Stevenson, who was a famous bald-headed liberal intellectual in that period. The last time I gave the question any thought, I thought the same thing as **Little Nemo**. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointy-headed-liberal/508370/29 "2010-10-30T05:35:36Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > … > > Of course, it also just kicks the question down the road: why were Los Alamos Scientists called “coneheads”? They were from France. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2010, 9:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointy-headed-liberal/508370/30 "2010-10-30T09:20:27Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > The OED’s take on it… So it means either intellectual, or dumb. That just about covers it. :dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pointy-headed-liberal/508370.md?page=1)