The results are interesting. For 'Petrol head', the consensus is clearly that it's someone who is into performance cars. So I would be a petrol head, but most people reading this probably aren't. Evo magazine has a discussion on the subject here: http://community.evo.co.uk/users/Adam-Shorrock/blogs/index.cfm/2010/4/6/What-makes-a-petrolhead?CMP=NLC-Newsletters&uid=807e96628e9a8b54c5c0a45c39f5d33d
Even more interesting are your views on 'Propeller head'. Most people went for the 'strong interest in aviation' option, which is what I would have gone for. askoxford.com doesn't recognise the term at all (bit behind the curve there guys...).
Mirriam-Webster says a "propeller-head" is "an enthusiast of technology and especially of computers" and says the phrase derives from "cartoon images of science fiction fans wearing caps with a propeller protruding from the top", going as far back as 1982. Wikipedia gives much the same definition but dates the usage as far back as the 1940s when "science fiction fanzine artist Ray Nelson (himself still in high school) adopted the use of the propeller beanie as emblematic shorthand for science fiction fandom". Wikipedia goes on to say that "references to it (i.e. the propellerhead beanie) are ironically now used to identify old-fashioned fans" - I make no comment on the ages of the two people who voted for that option...
Urban Dictionary has pretty much all of the definitions I used in the poll, EXCEPT for the one about aviation. It does give propeller head as meaning a Jew or a BMW enthusiast (because of BMW's propeller logo).
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2010-04-08 03:20 pm (UTC)http://community.evo.co.uk/users/Adam-Shorrock/blogs/index.cfm/2010/4/6/What-makes-a-petrolhead?CMP=NLC-Newsletters&uid=807e96628e9a8b54c5c0a45c39f5d33d
Even more interesting are your views on 'Propeller head'. Most people went for the 'strong interest in aviation' option, which is what I would have gone for. askoxford.com doesn't recognise the term at all (bit behind the curve there guys...).
Mirriam-Webster says a "propeller-head" is "an enthusiast of technology and especially of computers" and says the phrase derives from "cartoon images of science fiction fans wearing caps with a propeller protruding from the top", going as far back as 1982. Wikipedia gives much the same definition but dates the usage as far back as the 1940s when "science fiction fanzine artist Ray Nelson (himself still in high school) adopted the use of the propeller beanie as emblematic shorthand for science fiction fandom". Wikipedia goes on to say that "references to it (i.e. the propellerhead beanie) are ironically now used to identify old-fashioned fans" - I make no comment on the ages of the two people who voted for that option...
Urban Dictionary has pretty much all of the definitions I used in the poll, EXCEPT for the one about aviation. It does give propeller head as meaning a Jew or a BMW enthusiast (because of BMW's propeller logo).