Talking heads?

[Fan of Arabian horses]

Hi!

I?d like to know the particular meaning of "talking heads"!

Michael

[Pond969]

There is (or was) a rock-music band called 'The Talking-Heads' and I have no idea what *they* meant

Seriously though.... I would suspect that this is a phrase that post-dates the advent of television. As I understand it, the term refers to the people - politicians, news-announcers, public-figures, and the like - who provide us with information (or dis-information) on the 'little-screen'.

The term arises, presumably, since the TV camera usually only focuses on the head of the person speaking.

I'd be interested to hear any other thoughts.

[Tamara]

Hi

I can only say that last year I asked the question () to my (UK) tutor and she gave the same explanation for this ironical expression. (But I doubt whether it can be considered as a 'term'. ())
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[Yankee]

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Technically speaking, 'talking head' probably could be called a 'term' -- but an informal or slang one (depending on which dictionary you check).

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talking head

Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Pond969]

Tamara ... the word 'term' usually connotes a word (or more commonly a group of words) having a specific meaning, so I would say that 'Talking-Heads' qualifies. I can't see that there is any particular irony suggested by it, however.

[Tamara]

Hi

[Pond969]

Hi Tamara ... I don't think I've ever heard the phrase you used 'He is just a talking head'. I do agree that the term itself does have rather a negative shading... If I were to ask 'What are the talking heads saying about [some current issue]' it would carry the sense that I anticipate their talk to be a lot of hot air.

[Fan of Arabian horses]

Hi!

As much as I understand, "Talking Head" is similar to "Babblehead", isn?t it?

Michael

[Yankee]

Hi Michael

Where did you hear the word 'babblehead'?

I'd say my understanding of 'talking head' is very similar to Pond969's. It often has the sense that the person who is talking is just spouting off a lot of 'blah blah blah' (hot air).

Amy
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Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Fan of Arabian horses]

Hi Amy!

So, there is a difference between "babblehead" and "talking head"?

Michael

[Jamie (K)]

I've never heard the word "babblehead".

I don't agree with Amy that a talking head is just someone who babbles. It's specifically a person talking on TV whose head is only shown.

And I have frequently heard the sentence, "He's just a talking head." It means a man reports or presents on TV, but he doesn't have much experience or intellect, so there's little substance to what he says.

There's another commonly used expression that's similar to talking head, but is more specific. If a woman who reports the news is very beautiful but has nearly no journalistic credentials, she's frequently called an info babe.

[Yankee]

[Fan of Arabian horses]

[Torsten]

Hi Michael, please check the difference between mistaken and mistaking. (The set phrase is 'to be mistaken'.)
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[Alan]

Hi,

It is interesting to note that there was a series of monologues for BBC TV written by Alan Bennett called just that 'Talking Heads', which were performed by some of the top actresses in the UK at the time. Alan Bennett was one of the team in the 1960s called Beyond the Fringe that included the late lamented Dudley Moore and more recently he wrote the screen play for the highly successful film The madness of George The Third.

A
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