Aluhüte und Sheeple

[glhansen]

You have the word Aluhut for aluminum foil hat. It's such a compact and convenient word, I've been trying to introduce it over here. But I also want to use the word for the people who wear the aluminum foil hats, not just the headwear. As in, "Die Aluhüte sind sehr an dem Unfall am Suezkanal interessiert." But does that work?

Comments

[schnee]

It works, yes, in that it's quite readily understood.

I wouldn't say it that way myself, but that may be a matter of personal taste more than anything else. As far as metonymies go, it certainly isn't all that uncommon to refer to people by the hats they wear. :) Schlapphüte, for instance, refers to spies, undercover agents (including cops) and so on.

So yeah, I'd say it works.

[schlemihl]

I'd probably say "Aluhutträger" as it sounds rather uncommon to me to just refer to the hats.

[fervid_dryfire]

Ja, doch!

(I say this as a non-native German, though...)

[freda]

I definitely use it (as a native speaker). Another plus: it's gender neutral.

[glhansen]

I thought Aluhut-Träger was probably a lot more common. But trying to import a word into English, I might say "the foil hat crowd", but "something-wearers" is just awkward.

But there has just been so much lately, and I feel like they're not even pretending to be realistic any more. And der Goldene Aluhut Award is brilliant and, dangit, we need that here!