Egghead

In the American English slang, egghead is an anti-intellectual epithet used to refer to intellectuals or people considered too out-of-touch with ordinary people and too lacking in realism, common sense, virility, etc. on account of their intellectual interests. It was part of a widespread anti-elitist social movement that insisted that credentialed intellectuals were not the only smart people, but that serious human intelligence could be found widespread among ordinary people regardless of class, race or gender.

A similar, though not necessarily pejorative, British term is boffin. The term egghead reached its peak currency during the 1950s, when vice-presidential candidate Richard Nixon used it against Democratic Presidential nominee Adlai Stevenson. It was used by Clinton advisor Paul Begala in the 2008 presidential campaign to describe Senator Barack Obama's supporters when he said, "Obama can't win with just the eggheads and African-Americans."

Origins

In his Pulitzer Prize-winning historical essay on American anti-intellectualism, historian Richard Hofstadter wrote: "During the campaign of 1952, the country seemed to be in need of some term to express that disdain for intellectuals which had by then become a self-conscious motif in American politics. The word egghead was originally used without invidious associations, but quickly assumed them, and acquired a much sharper tone than the traditional highbrow. Shortly after the campaign was over, Louis Bromfield, a popular novelist of right-wing political persuasion, suggested that the word might someday find its way into dictionaries as follows:

Egghead (Marvel Comics)

Egghead is the name of two fictional villains appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics.

Publication history

The original first appeared in Tales to Astonish #38 and was created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Larry Lieber.

The second first appeared in Dark Reign: Young Avengers #1 and was created by Paul Cornell and Mark Brooks.

Fictional character biography

Elihas Starr

Elihas Starr was born in Queens, New York. A gifted government research atomic scientist, Starr was dismissed for espionage and resolved to use his intellect as a criminal mastermind. He was dealt a humiliating initial defeat by Ant-Man (Hank Pym) when he tried to create a device to take control of ants, although Ant-Man tricked him into thinking the ants obeyed him before capturing Egghead, whom he was sent to battle on behalf of underworld figures. He had captured the Wasp to try luring Hank into a trap involving several creatures like an anteater, but this failed. Egghead divided his remaining years between attempted world conquest and seeking revenge on Pym, often hiding out in the Bowery section of Manhattan in between.

Egghead (DC Comics)

Egghead is a fictional character created for the 1960s Batman television series. Played by horror film mainstay Vincent Price, the character was identifiable by his pale bald head and white and yellow suit. He believes himself to be "the world's smartest criminal," and his crimes usually have an egg motif to them; he also includes egg-related puns in his speech ("egg-zactly", "egg-cellent", etc.). Additionally, he would use a wide assortment of egg-shaped weapons, such as laughing gas eggs and tear gas eggs (laid by chickens on a diet of onions).

Background

Like many other villains, Egghead was created specifically for the 1966 Batman TV series (e.g., King Tut, Shame, The Siren, Chandell, the Bookworm, and Louie the Lilac). Egghead would go on to be introduced in the comic books.

Fictional character biography

Egghead was introduced in the second season two-parter, "An Egg Grows in Gotham" and "The Yegg Foes in Gotham," where he schemed with Chief Screaming Chicken (Edward Everett Horton) of the Mohican Indian tribe to revert control of Gotham City to the Chief's people. In return, Egghead would also govern the city and enable the criminal underground to run amok. Their scheme was foiled by Batman (Adam West) and Robin (Burt Ward).