Head collecting by some contemporaneous societies is established, and 
the fossil evidence supports an argument that it was practiced by some 
ancestral societies as well. The cultural rationale of the specific 
practice is not specifically the same between societies, but generally 
the practice relates to belief systems.

Therefore, referring to the 'professional recruiter' as 'head hunter' 
implies a mystical or religious responsibility and may strike some as 
ironic humor.

As an alternative, what about 'bounty-hunter'? It's a contemporary job 
classification and often describes both the task requested and the 
attitude brought to the process by the specialist doing the work.

-L.D.


On Nov 2, 2005, at 11:36 PM, David E. Haberstich wrote:

> With all due respect to Geri Thomas, I'd like to argue a bit with the
> characterization of "headhunter" as a pejorative term.  I can well 
> understand a
> "search and recruitment" specialist preferring not to be called a 
> headhunter or any
> other slangy term, just as many psychiatrists prefer not being called
> headshrinkers or "shrinks" (although I have known several who didn't 
> mind the slang
> at all).  But I question the notion that calling "some tribal peoples 
> in the
> past" headhunters is pejorative, which I take to imply incorrect or 
> unfair.  I
> suspect that "headhunting" is probably surrounded by myth and 
> misunderstanding,
> and I invite any anthropologist or other expert to clarify or correct 
> me, but
> is it not a bald (ha) fact that "some tribal peoples in the past" 
> hunted for
> heads to shrink, under certain circumstances?  Even if the practice of
> headhunting were a complete myth, for that matter, isn't the notion of 
> search and
> recruitment specialists hunting for good heads a rather apt metaphor?
>
> What's next?  Disc jockeys objecting to the term because they 
> disapprove of
> horseracing as a cruel sport that exploits helpless creatures?
>
> David Haberstich

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