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Cheesehead is a nickname in the United States for a person from
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) North division. It is the t ...
NFL football franchise.
Current usage
Wisconsin is associated with cheese because the state historically produced moredairy 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 i ...
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 state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rock ...
football 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 t ...
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 ...
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, 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 w ...
. The "Cheesehead" trademark is owned by Foamation, Inc. of St. Francis, Wisconsin, 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 Conferenc ...
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 graters.
Other origins
*'' kaaskop'', Dutch for "Cheesehead", is used as a slanderous term towards Dutch people. The use started as early asWorld 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 World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, 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