Cheesehead is a nickname in the United States for a person from

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

or for a fan of the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

NFL

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

franchise.

Current usage

Wisconsin is associated with cheese because the state historically produced more

dairy product Dairy products or milk products, also known as lacticinia, are food products made from (or containing) milk. The most common dairy animals are cow, water buffalo, nanny goat, and ewe. Dairy products include common grocery store food items in th ...

s than other American states, giving it the nickname "America's Dairyland." The use of the term "cheesehead" as a derogatory word for Wisconsinites originated with

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

and

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

fans to refer to opposing Wisconsin sports fans. The term, however, was quickly embraced by Wisconsinites and is now a point of pride.

Cheesehead hat

Rose Bruno first saw a cardboard "cheesehead" hat at a Milwaukee Brewers vs.

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

game in Chicago in 1987 worn by fellow Milwaukeean Amerik Wojciechowski.. Ralph Bruno later made the first one out of foam while he was cutting up his mother's couch. It was made popular by center-fielder

Rick Manning Richard Eugene Manning (born September 2, 1954) is a former center fielder and current broadcaster in Major League Baseball (MLB), who played for the Cleveland Indians (1975-) and Milwaukee Brewers (1983–1987), and has been a color commentato ...

, who saw the hat while playing. Bruno started a multi-million dollar business (1 Million dollars in annual sales) to sell the hats as

novelties A novelty item or simply novelty is an object which is specifically designed to serve no practical purpose, and is sold for its uniqueness, humor, or simply as something new (hence "novelty", or newness). The term also applies to practical items wi ...

. The "Cheesehead" trademark is owned by Foamation, Inc. of

St. Francis, Wisconsin St. Francis is a city in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 9,161 at the 2020 census. History St. Francis Seminary was established in what is now the city in 1845. The Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi establishe ...

, which began manufacture of the wearable, foam "Cheesehead" in 1987. Along with the original Cheesehead "wedge", Foamation has made other similar "cheese" apparel, including baseball caps, cowboy hats, and earrings. The Cheesehead gained attention in 1995, when Packers fan Frank Emmert Jr. was flying on a private plane back to Wisconsin after attending a Packers game against the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

and the plane crashed due to ice accumulation. Emmert suffered a broken ankle and other minor injuries, but was saved from further serious injury when he used his Cheesehead for protection in the crash. In 2013, sports fans of Chicago replied to their rivals by wearing

cheese grater A grater, also known as a shredder, is a kitchen utensil used to grate foods into fine pieces. Uses Food preparation Several types of graters feature different sizes of grating slots, and can therefore aid in the preparation of a variety of ...

Other origins

*'' kaaskop'',

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

for "Cheesehead", is used as a slanderous term towards Dutch people. The use started as early as

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, when German soldiers were known to call the Dutch "cheeseheads". *The term "cheesehead" was used in a derogatory manner in the 1969 novel '' Papillon'' to describe the French jury that sentenced Papillon to life in prison. "Look at them, there in front of you. Can you see them clearly, those dozen cheeseheads brought to Paris from some distant village?"

References

{{ethnic slurs 1987 neologisms American regional nicknames Pejorative demonyms History of the Green Bay Packers Spectators of American football Symbols of Wisconsin Wisconsin culture Novelty items