HEADBANGERÜ

noun Also written head banger or head-banger (Politics) (Youth Culture) In young people's slang: a deranged or stupid person; a lunatic or idiot. Hence in political contexts: a person with very extreme political views; someone whose ideas and policies seem 'over the top' (see OTT). Etymology: Adopted from psychological jargon, in which a headbanger is a child who engages in rhythmic rocking and banging its head against the cot or walls as a comfort mechanism (often as a sign of boredom, neglect, or stress), or an adult who is severely disturbed and shows stress by engaging in similar activity. As a young people's term of abuse it relies more on stereotyped notions of the behaviour of 'lunatics' than on knowledge of psychology. History and Usage: Long in spoken use (especially, it seems, in Glasgow) as a general term of abuse, headbanger has acquired a wider currency in the late seventies and eighties as a result of its use in the newspapers to refer to extremist politicians of the Left and the Right. Headbanging in this sense means any militant political extremism. If he was to resign from Monday morning's interview...It was a while since he had been carpeted...Old Milne was a bit of a headbanger but apart from that. James Kelman Disaffection (1989), p. 84 Other drivers spoke about a 'headbanger' and the driving as 'absolute madness'. The Times 6 Feb. 1989, p. 43 The Tories were always disliked by Christian Democrats for their selfishness and their mindless complacency. In the European Parliament, they sit alone with a few Spanish and Danish head-bangers, while the main conservative grouping excludes them. Observer 19 Feb. 1989, p. 13