n-heads

[Steve Clason]

On 1/31/2005 9:09 PM Wilson Gray wrote:

> So, it's also the name of something used in construction. Any idea what
> it was? FWIW, my 1971 RHD defines "niggerhead" only as a nautical term
> meaning "gypsyhead." Period. Was there really a time in this country
> when ethnic and racial slurs were so common that a professional
> lexicographer felt free to define one slur by another slur, without the
> need for further explanation? Clearly, there was.

In the mid-'70s on the North Slope in Alaska "niggerhead" referred to
hummocks (tussocks?) of grass that grew about 8" in diameter, 10-12"
high, spaced 6" or so apart. They covered acres and acres and were very
difficult to traverse by any means. USGS Topographical maps indicated
them with the very word.

--
Steve Clason