Why is ヘッド an embarrassing title?


In the video game Mega Man X7, if you fight the boss Ride Boarski/Hellride
Inobusky as X, before the fight you get this dialogue:

> X「 おまえが“ヘッド”か？」
>
> イノブスキー「ヘ、ヘッド～！？て、てめぇ～！！そんなハズカシイ名前で呼びやがって、“総長”と呼べ！」

Rough translation:

> X: Are you the head?
>
> Boarski: H-head?! You little ...! How dare you call me something so
> embarrassing! Call me the chief!

But I don't really see why ヘッド is such an embarrassing title. Being called the
'head' of a group isn't embarrassing in English, and looking up ヘッド in a
dictionary gets me the definition かしら・長・主任, which don't sound terribly
embarrassing either. I think かしら is even written 頭 in Kanji.

So why _is_ ヘッド so embarrassing?




In Japanese, ヘッド and 総長 are both used as the title of the leader of
(relatively young) street gangs, outlaws,
_[bōsōzoku](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C5%8Ds%C5%8Dzoku)_ , etc. Although
総長 is sometimes used also by legitimate organizations, ヘッド is almost specific
to outlaws. In this context, the difference between ヘッド and 総長 is not large,
but ヘッド tends to sound like the leader of a smaller team, while 総長 is more
grandiose and sounds like the president of a larger organization. This may be
why this character hates to be called ヘッド, but prideful people want to be
called only in one way, anyway.

By the way, we can read all the lines of this character
[here](http://120en.net/inobusuki-.html). Here's an excerpt:

>   * てってめぇ！ あんなザコと俺の **チーム** を一緒にしやがる気か！ ゆるせねぇ！！
>   * ヘッ、 **ヘッド** ～！？ て、てめぇ～！！ そんなハズカシイ名前で呼びやがって、" **総長** "と呼べ！
>   * ぼ、 **暴走族** ぅ～！？ てめぇ…重ね重ね…！！ 上等だぁ、オルァ！
>

So イノブスキー strongly hates to be called a 暴走族 although he is obviously a
reckless motorcycle gangster himself. This reminds me of the "暴走族 vs 走り屋"
controversy which is [described in
Wikipedia](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B5%B0%E3%82%8A%E5%B1%8B). 暴走族 is
a catch-all term that refers to various types of reckless motorcycle riders in
Japan, but its stereotype is violent street gangs wearing intimidating
costumes. On the other hand, a 走り屋 takes pride in being different from typical
暴走族, and they regard themselves as the genuine lovers of motorcycles and
street racing. Although many people do not distinguish them strictly, such
distinction is important to some. I suppose イノブスキー want others to regard him
as not a 暴走族 but a 走り屋.




In Japanese, ヘッド and 総長 are both used as the title of the leader of
(relatively young) street gangs, outlaws,
_[bōsōzoku](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B%C5%8Ds%C5%8Dzoku)_ , etc. Although
総長 is sometimes used also by legitimate organizations, ヘッド is almost specific
to outlaws. In this context, the difference between ヘッド and 総長 is not large,
but ヘッド tends to sound like the leader of a smaller team, while 総長 is more
grandiose and sounds like the president of a larger organization. This may be
why this character hates to be called ヘッド, but prideful people want to be
called only in one way, anyway.

By the way, we can read all the lines of this character
[here](http://120en.net/inobusuki-.html). Here's an excerpt:

>   * てってめぇ！ あんなザコと俺の **チーム** を一緒にしやがる気か！ ゆるせねぇ！！
>   * ヘッ、 **ヘッド** ～！？ て、てめぇ～！！ そんなハズカシイ名前で呼びやがって、" **総長** "と呼べ！
>   * ぼ、 **暴走族** ぅ～！？ てめぇ…重ね重ね…！！ 上等だぁ、オルァ！
>

So イノブスキー strongly hates to be called a 暴走族 although he is obviously a
reckless motorcycle gangster himself. This reminds me of the "暴走族 vs 走り屋"
controversy which is [described in
Wikipedia](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E8%B5%B0%E3%82%8A%E5%B1%8B). 暴走族 is
a catch-all term that refers to various types of reckless motorcycle riders in
Japan, but its stereotype is violent street gangs wearing intimidating
costumes. On the other hand, a 走り屋 takes pride in being different from typical
暴走族, and they regard themselves as the genuine lovers of motorcycles and
street racing. Although many people do not distinguish them strictly, such
distinction is important to some. I suppose イノブスキー want others to regard him
as not a 暴走族 but a 走り屋.

