# When I write "horsehead bookends", what comes to mind automatically for you? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 11, 2016, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-write-horsehead-bookends-what-comes-to-mind-automatically-for-you/759679 "2016-07-11T19:26:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-write-horsehead-bookends-what-comes-to-mind-automatically-for-you/759679/41 "2016-07-14T07:25:02Z")
It took me a second, but I knew I’d heard it somewhere. Aided by this poll being in Cafe Society. Chewing gum! ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-write-horsehead-bookends-what-comes-to-mind-automatically-for-you/759679/42 "2016-07-14T08:27:50Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > I’ve seen the movie too, more than once even, but I don’t recall anything at all about bookends in it, so clearly that wasn’t a memorable part of it to me. Same for me. I remember the parents coming home and before finding the dead babysitter,the dad finding the chicken leg with the bite taken out of it, along with the bitten-out piece, and trying to put it back together with paper clips and rubber bands. Did the woodshop teacher have horsehead bookends as a project? WAS there a woodshop teacher? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-write-horsehead-bookends-what-comes-to-mind-automatically-for-you/759679/43 "2016-07-14T12:06:18Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think of my old insurance agent. Which may be an unusual response but he really did live in [Horseheads](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horseheads,_New_York). The thread title game me a traumatic memory of the night by vehicle broke down in Horseheads and I was forced to stay at the second-worst motel I’ve ever stayed at. Still probably better that I broke down in Horseheads than Hellmira. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-write-horsehead-bookends-what-comes-to-mind-automatically-for-you/759679/44 "2016-07-14T13:47:46Z")
1 and 2. Never seen that movie, but I’ve seen plenty of horsehead-shaped bookends. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-write-horsehead-bookends-what-comes-to-mind-automatically-for-you/759679/45 "2016-07-14T16:27:49Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > Knights, from Chess. I haven’t heard that one. Is it on iTunes? First thing I thought of was horseradish. ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-write-horsehead-bookends-what-comes-to-mind-automatically-for-you/759679/46 "2016-07-14T19:16:58Z")
Wouldn’t they stain the books all red? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-write-horsehead-bookends-what-comes-to-mind-automatically-for-you/759679/47 "2016-07-14T21:29:33Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Same for me. I remember the parents coming home and before finding the dead babysitter,the dad finding the chicken leg with the bite taken out of it, along with the bitten-out piece, and trying to put it back together with paper clips and rubber bands. > > Did the woodshop teacher have horsehead bookends as a project? > > WAS there a woodshop teacher? Yes, and he was obsessed with horsehead bookends. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-write-horsehead-bookends-what-comes-to-mind-automatically-for-you/759679/48 "2016-07-14T21:37:14Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Did the woodshop teacher have horsehead bookends as a project? > > WAS there a woodshop teacher? Yes. Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-write-horsehead-bookends-what-comes-to-mind-automatically-for-you/759679/49 "2016-07-14T21:39:44Z")
One was even used as a weapon (see my earlier quote). ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-write-horsehead-bookends-what-comes-to-mind-automatically-for-you/759679/50 "2016-07-14T21:40:44Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > Yes, and he was obsessed with horsehead bookends. “one of lives greatest inventions and most amazing creations…the horsehead bookend” This also being right after we see someone murdered by one Also… When the woodshop teacher is eventually cornered and about to be killed by the killer, he picks one up and offers it “Horsehead bookend?” and then begins petting it out of fear. [Speaking of which…](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te3pdzQtxWc) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-write-horsehead-bookends-what-comes-to-mind-automatically-for-you/759679/51 "2016-07-14T21:41:14Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > > [@kaylasdad99](#): > > > > Did the woodshop teacher have horsehead bookends as a project? > > > > WAS there a woodshop teacher? > > Yes, and he was obsessed with horsehead bookends. In my high school wood shop class, we mostly worked with pine. (I wanted to make a cutting board and was told that if I wanted to use a hard wood like maple, I’d have to buy it and bring it in. So my cutting board was done in pine, and was merely decorative.) I would think you would need a really dense wood to make bookends heavy enough to be useful. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2016, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-write-horsehead-bookends-what-comes-to-mind-automatically-for-you/759679/52 "2016-07-14T22:49:43Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > In my high school wood shop class, we mostly worked with pine. (I wanted to make a cutting board and was told that if I wanted to use a hard wood like maple, I’d have to buy it and bring it in. So my cutting board was done in pine, and was merely decorative.) I would think you would need a really dense wood to make bookends heavy enough to be useful. Useful in killing horny teenagers!?!??:dubious: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-i-write-horsehead-bookends-what-comes-to-mind-automatically-for-you/759679.md?page=2)