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In English, the term "squarehead" used to refer to Germans and Scandiavians (1), due to their supposedly unusual cranial features (2, 3)

Does the German language have words for the stereotypically British, the stereotypically German (as shown) or other skull shapes?

Sources:

(1) https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/squarehead

(2) https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=squarehead (I realize that urbandictionary is not a great source, but it has the only explanation of the etymology of the slur that I could find)

(3) https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-comparison-of-british-german-skull-shapes-ww1-56691744.html (I do not know if this was an actual propaganda poster during WWI, but this is what they claim)

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    Please replace "supposedly" with "purportedly". The contents of the poster is just racist bullshit. Otherwise, your question is valid. – tofro May 03 '19 at 10:52
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    @tofro Is there really any difference between "supposedly" and "purportedly"? – sgf May 03 '19 at 15:03
  • @sgf yes, of course – tofro May 03 '19 at 15:35
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    @tofro "supposedly" is appropriate though: from M-W: "according to what is or was said, claimed, or believed by some". You might be thinking of "supposably", which means "capable of being supposed". Language aside, typical skull shapes do vary by geography. There's nothing racist about it. –  May 03 '19 at 16:00
  • geography only shapes heads, if hit on hard enough. At best, climate might play a role, but mostly genetics, that isn't strictly regionally bound, so you have to be careful not to sound borderline offensive. There are outdated racist slurs pertaining to head shape, indeed. – vectory May 04 '19 at 09:30
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    @vectory You've misunderstood my statement. I did not write that geography directly CAUSES anything (perhaps indirectly, it does, via adaptation). Only that the typical skull shape varies depending on the location. –  May 04 '19 at 10:21
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    @vectory https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/geography 1.2 "a geographical area; a region" –  May 04 '19 at 10:23
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    imho depend is an even stronger word than caused by. You might mean correlation, but I'm pretty much ignorant about that, and any such correlation might be exceptional. German heads do not differ, on average, typically, or at all. Sure, there might be an anthropologic tangent, but I doubt a bone scholar could identify birthplace from head forms, in the vast majority of cases. – vectory May 04 '19 at 12:01
  • Please don't downvote this answer, merely because you don't like the words it asks for and the associations it evokes in you. This is a site for discussing the German language in a factual manner. – problemofficer - n.f. Monica May 10 '19 at 14:05
  • I do not like this question because the Nazis classified human beings via their Kopfform (= skull shape). Look at this where you can see that the intention was to distiguish between the "Aryan master race" and "inferior races". – Paul Frost Nov 14 '20 at 00:48

3 Answers3

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Common terms in popular everyday communication refering to skull shapes are

  • Quadratschädel
  • Eierkopf
  • Flachschädel

As a bonus, here are words used for head in general, without special reference to its shape

  • Rübe
  • Birne
  • Kürbis
  • Melle
  • Deetz
  • Dach (eins aufs Dach kriegen)
  • Nuss
  • Lampe
  • Omme

(I open this as a community wiki so that others can add terms)

Volker Landgraf
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Christian Geiselmann
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Craniology is junk science, but I understand you are aware of that. There are nevertheless some typical expressions in German used to describe people's temperament by skull or head terms:

Er probiert es einfach nochmal? Ja. Er ist eben ein Dickschädel.

He's just trying it again? Yes. Gee, he's a pig-head.

Die Betonköpfe aus Moskau sagen zu allem "Nein."

The Moscow pig-heads are responding "Nyet!" to anything.

Then, there's the Pattkopp ("Pattkopf"), which is literally a deer which cannot grow antlers (due to some illness or old age). It's used to insult clueless people.

Klapskopf in contrary is someone who got slapped in the face one time to often and indulges into useless activities and foolishness.

But the most used term is probably kopflos, as in

Die Hintermannschaft agierte völlig kopflos.

The defense acted completely clueless.

Janka
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square has a metaphorical meaning (hip to be square, don't be a square, fair and square, square on point) and might relate here to the rigid rule thinking stereotypically attributed to Germany (or Prussia), e.g. punctuality. Ironicallly Ger. Querkopf means quite the opposite.

quer "diagonal, transverse" has a relation to En. queer. In Querdenker "lateral thinker, alternative thinker, opposition*" has a rather positive connotation, in comparison.

vectory
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