What's a single word that means "propeller beanie?"

December 14, 2007 7:01 AM

What's the word for a propeller beanie?

I realize one can just say "propeller beanie" but I seem to remember at some point reading a single word that implied the propeller and the beanie. No?

posted by Grundlebug to society & culture (13 comments total)

propellerhead?
posted by tom_g at 7:10 AM on December 14, 2007

Seconding propellerhead, which I'd always assumed was the origin of the california slang term for a computer nerd.
posted by phrontist at 7:13 AM on December 14, 2007

This site doesn't have any other names listed.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 7:13 AM on December 14, 2007

I've always associated "propellerhead" as a geek who wears the propeller beanie, not the item itself.
posted by sjuhawk31 at 7:16 AM on December 14, 2007

The "propeller beanie" first appeared, afaik, on the head of a boy named "Beanie" in the old Beanie and Cecil cartoons.

The proper term for the toy is actually "Beanie Cap Copter". I went through at least three of them when I was a kid.
posted by Thorzdad at 7:23 AM on December 14, 2007

Beaniecopter.
posted by iconomy at 7:33 AM on December 14, 2007

I used to love my Beany Cap Copter.
posted by Floydd at 7:36 AM on December 14, 2007

Beaniecopter, also spelled beanycopter (for beany and cecil as Thorzdad mentions). On the wiki page it says " the "Beanycopter", complete with helmet and propeller, became a popularly marketed novelty".
posted by iconomy at 7:49 AM on December 14, 2007

See, the copter part was spring-loaded. You'd wind it up, then pull a string on the cap and the copter part would go spinning off into the air, landing on the roof, requiring your dad to get the ladder out and climb up on the roof...again.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:22 AM on December 14, 2007

According to Webster, the term propellerhead dates from 1982 "from cartoon images of science fiction fans wearing caps with a propeller protruding from the top". However, I had always thought propellerhead was an aviation industry term for aerospace engineers or amateur aviation enthusiatists, the way wirehead referred to electrical engineers or ham radio tinkerers in the 50s and gearhead referred to car modders, and that all of these pre-dated the term 'hacker'.

In any case, I always thought these caps were simply called "beanies".
posted by Pastabagel at 8:28 AM on December 14, 2007

However, I had always thought propellerhead was an aviation industry term for aerospace engineers or amateur aviation enthusiatists

Mild derail, I've heard of helicopter pilots (or at least enthusiasts) being referred to as rotorheads, but I've never heard propellerheads in context that wasn't somehow associated with the hat.
posted by Nelsormensch at 8:50 AM on December 14, 2007

The earliest name seems to have been "pinwheel beanie", but the original brand name was the Atomic Whirler.

As for a single word, I found a few instances where the word whirligig has transferred to the cap.
posted by dhartung at 7:07 PM on December 14, 2007

Wow, small nostalgic personal derail alert: My first comment on MetaFilter concerned propeller-hats, was followed immediately by mathowie, and then quonsar quoted me positively, and I felt such relief and weird pride. . . . Man, this place is great sometimes. End derail. *sniffles*
posted by cgc373 at 1:46 AM on December 15, 2007