A little googling lets me see that its current usage mostly has to do with bridal costumery. Maybe something between a headband and a headdress that somehow doesn't seem like a tiara?
By the way, "headcase" is in the OED. Defintion: "A person whose behaviour is violent and unpredictable, or markedly eccentric; (often hyperbolically) such a person characterized as mentally ill or unstable." The first observed us is in the 1965 movie "Flight of Phoenix": "They ain't gonna let no head-case run a drilling operation." I love the trailer:
But it made me think of "headcase" and "thinkpiece."
One of the definitions of "headpiece" in the OED — and there are 8 — is "The head or brain considered as the seat of mental activity; intellect, brains, sense. colloquial in later use."
It's in the 1740 novel "Pamela": "You have an excellent Head-piece for your Years." And I like this dialog from "Jazz" (2003 J. Murray): "She has brains, I swear, nearly as big as my own"/"Some headpiece that must be. I wonder what you two great minds choose to talk about?"
Ha ha. I like it. I'm going to try to remember to use "headpiece" like that. You can also use "headpiece" to mean "A clever or intellectual person." Example: "Of all the head-pieces that were there, he was thought to give the strongest reasons" (1657 T. Burton Diary).
One year later, Pete Townshend came out with "I'm a Boy": "My name is Bill, and I'm a head case/They practice making up on my face/Yeah, I feel lucky if I get trousers to wear/Spend evenings taking hairpins from my hair/I'm a boy, I'm a boy/But my ma won't admit it..."
As for "think-piece" — that's in the OED too. It's mostly a journalism term — "an article containing discussion, analysis, or opinion, as opposed to fact or news." It was first seen in 1935 in Harper's: "We [reporters] wanted to work,... but there was nothing with which to build. So we faked and wrote ‘think pieces’ and sat about, glass in hand, until something happened to break the monotony." Fake news!
Imagine a headpiece writing a thinkpiece about a headcase. Oh! I just thought of just about every article I've ever read about Trump.
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A headpiece is a bit of gear worn on the head of a showgirl.
"A headpiece is a bit of gear worn on the head of a showgirl."
The bridal use comes up about 5 times as often in a web search. I would have used the word "headdress" for the huge showgirl thing, but "headpiece" does appear more often than "headdress" in the showgirl context.
The oldest use of "headpiece" is for a piece of armor, but the meaning "A piece of headgear; a cap, a hat; a headdress" is very old, going back to the 1500s. Seems like it's a pretty generic word for anything worn on the head. It's like "codpiece."
"Headpiece" also is used to refer to a part of a bed, a ship, a window, and a book.
'Seems like it's a pretty generic word for anything worn on the head. It's like "codpiece."'
Which is for anything worn on the 'cod.' : )
"A headpiece is a bit of gear worn on the head of a showgirl."
Isn't that when you're wearing the showgirl? Use your imagination.
Ann Althouse said...Seems like it's a pretty generic word for anything worn on the head.
That's how I've always understood it.
There's also "headset", which usually describes some sort of headphone + mic combination, but has also been used to decribe a virtual reality device you put on you head.
"Imagine a headpiece writing a thinkpiece about a headcase."
Head cheese is two words, which stops me in my tracks.
I am Laslo.
No justice, no headpiece.
That was a good movie, Kruger represented well.
The 2004 remake was not too bad either...
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Headpiece to the staff of Ra....
Great movie!
i will take : items that float in a think-tank for the daily double alex
Ernest Borgnine was in every movie. ever created.
Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Headpiece.
Something like that.
I am Laslo.
Gamers know their headpieces. As well as greaves, sabatons, and pauldrons.
Ah - the 'good' Who, as Althouse would categorize them, before Tommy/Quadrophenia!
That song "I'm A Boy" was quite prescient, wasn't it?
Marshall Rose beat me to it, because I thought of that right away, too. And yes, Raiders of the Lost Ark is an all-time classic.
"Raiders of the Lost Ark
"Headpiece to the staff of Ra...."
It SHOULD have been the 'Headpiece of the Staff of Aaron.'
Just saying.
Jimmy Stewart flew at least two dozen combat missions in Europe piloting a B-24, including a flight on D-Day. He was one tough man. Finally got grounded.
Plus, he had to fight to get his wings. He was much older than other pilots.
You can see the difference in his personality in his pre- and post-war movies. I'm not sure that his breakdown scenes in "It's a Wonderful Life" were acting.
The 2004 remake was not too bad either...
I actually liked it better--seen them both twice. Not sure why but I find both films fascinating.
Here's a fun thought experiment!
Imagine; that You were Hollywood, and that you were going to remake The Flight of the Phoenix!
Instead of having the movie be about: 5 straight white guys, stuck in the desert you have?
what?
A polyamorous nonbinary as the veteran pilot?
A pansexual Latinx as the navigator?
A angry queer Black Nationalist and the model plane expert?
A pair a romantically entwined lesbians as the Army Officer and her Enlisted Lover?
But!
What about Trucker Cobb? Who takes Ernest Borgnine's role as the mentally fatigued foreman?
Stacy Abrams in her film debut?
and what about the pet monkey?
"Imagine; that You were Hollywood, and that you were going to remake The Flight of the Phoenix!"
It would just be 90 minutes of the woke characters you listed sitting around and complaining about not getting a cell signal, and hence, not being able to Instagram or Tik Tok or text or use any other 'Look at me!' app.
Wouldn't matter as all of them would have degrees in left-handed indigenous lesbian studies and wouldn't know a aileron from a didgeridoo...
gilbar said...
Stacy Abrams in her film debut?
and what about the pet monkey?
Oh no you didn't!
Racist misogynist homophobic islamophobic white supremacist Hitler nazi bigot said whaaaat?
They don't make movies and trailers like that anymore. Do they?
I need to watch it again someday.
Come, lay your head on my tassett while I toy with your gorget.
Narr
OK, which one of the FOTP actors was the most closeted?
Imagine; that You were Hollywood, and that you were going to remake The Flight of the Phoenix!
They'd all blame the white supremist man who designed and built an airplane that was incapable of flying in a class-5 sandstorm. That it was a plot of the cheap-charlie freight company that bought said airplane to undermine the new world order by stranding its leaders in the middle of the Sahara Desert. They'd die of dehydration in the cargo compartment without lifting a wrench or even putting out an SOS sign.
And now I know you play spelling bee every day. That was the last word I got today, oddly for me. Usually I get the pangram early on.
A headpiece goes on the other end from the tailpiece. And if you split those compound words you completely change the meanings to something... Lazlo-ish.
When I see "headpiece" these days, I think of Kamala Harris. But that's just me.
And the puzzle that shall not be named would not accept "hipped." Why is that? Is "hipped" racist or something?
gilbar said...
Here's a fun thought experiment!
Imagine; that You were Hollywood, and that you were going to remake The Flight of the Phoenix!
If they made a 2020 remake of 'Flight of the Phoenix' the plane would suddenly decided it was a submarine right after getting airborne.
If John Denver was a Nazi, his name would be Hardy Krüger.
Kamala.....is that you?
"If John Denver was a Nazi..."
What do you mean, if?
They just now called me a genius, without my wearing the headpiece. Serendipity indeed.
The original Flight of the Phoenix is a great film.
I see people talking about hypothetical remakes don't realize that they did remake it in 2004...and nobody noticed.
>>I see people talking about hypothetical remakes don't realize that they did remake it in 2004...and nobody noticed.
I saw it. It had Hugh Laurie in it. Not bad. Not great, but not bad.
The original Flight of the Phoenix is a classic and has remarkable performances from everyone. the remake was dullsville, which shows how important cast, and cast chemistry can be. And yes, Stewart had incredible range within his Stewart persona. You only have to compare Young, nice guy, Jimmy in "Mr. Smith goes to Washington" to the tough old bird in Flight of the Phoenix.
I always love how deceptive those old Hollywood trailers were. Flight of Phoenix is 95% TALK, but the trailer would have you believe its an action packed thriller full of fist fights, and sexy dancing girls. LOL!
I see people talking about hypothetical remakes don't realize that they did remake it in 2004...and nobody noticed.
yes BUT! back in 2004 Hollywood wasn't NEARLY as F*cked Up as they are now
Right now I'm more worried about headspace.
Paul Mantz died making that movie. Tragedy.
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