crazy/insane gradation

[Amy West]

No, there is also a literal sense of "head banging"/"head banger"
used in the human services field to refer to clients who literally
bang their heads against objects either as part of their
self-stimulation behavior or emotional release (when upset, etc.)
It's a fairly transparent/self-explanatory term.

It's the musical head-bangers who are more metaphorical: their sharp
head-nodding motions imitating banging one's head.

---Amy West

>Date:    Mon, 8 Mar 2010 19:49:57 -0500
>From:    victor steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject: Re: crazy/insane gradation
>
>"Head banging" means something else colloquially here--or, at least,
>it did in the 1990s. The association was with punk and hard-core, but
>was more loosely used in reference to music that was supposed to be
>listened to LOUD (think, Wayne's World as a mild version).
>
>VS-)

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org