Re: tête carrée

From: retrosorter (hrichler_at_sympatico.ca)
Date: 01/30/05 

Date: 29 Jan 2005 19:43:31 -0800

Jean Dufresne wrote:
> retrosorter wrote:
> >
> > Does anyone know the origin of the term "tete carrée" used in
Quebec
> > as a derogatory term for an anglophone?
>
> I don't know, but here are a few guesses. It is probably a
translation
> of the English expression "squarehead". "Squarehead" had been used
to
> describe German soldiers (possibly originating from the shape of the
old
> german helmets) and, by extension, Germans in general. It has known
> some popularity at some time in American slang to describe German and
> Scandinavian immigrants to the United States. The German also
returned
> the compliment since, apparently, they themselves had a German slang
> word for describing the English and which translates as "canister
> head". How the expression "squarehead" made it into Quebec slang, I
> don't know. It may have also been somewhat amalgamated with the
other
> English word "blockhead" (a dense person) [1]. In Quebec slang, the
> basic meaning of "tête carrée" is more specific than what you
mentioned
> above. It describes in particular a bigot, the sort of obtuse and
> arrogant person who is convinced of his innate superiority and is a
> nostalgic of the times of the colonial rule over other peoples.
>
> [1] A word often used, for example, in the "Peanuts" comics:
> http://www.canterburybooks.com/si/4187.html
>
> --
> Jean

I found this item online which seems to imply that the term tête
carrée was first applied in Lorraine, France to Germans:

Un terme parfois utilisé en Lorraine est tête carrée. Cette
expression est aussi employée par les Québécois envers les Canadiens
anglais. Cela renvoie aux idées d'uniformité, de fermeture
d'esprit, d'absence de rondeur et donc de politesse ou de
civilisation.