#burrowhead

The rivalry that keeps on giving.

#Burrowhead originates from the blending of the last name of the Cincinnati Bengals (Bengals) quarterback Joe Burrow, and the name of the Kansas City Chiefs (Chiefs) home stadium Arrowhead, creating a portmanteau.

A portmanteau is defined as ‘a word or part of a word made by combining the spellings and meanings of two or more other words or word parts’ (Merriam-Webster)

Mike Hilton coined the term burrowhead when being asked about the upcoming game against the Chiefs (ESPN), it has since turned into a well known, well used hashtag within the Bengals community (known as who dey nation.) It is usually used to incite excitement, for trash talk, socialising within the community, and more.

But what does this hashtag do? 

It identifies members of who dey nation, it is often accompanied with photos of Joe Burrow, memes of the Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, and general trash talk. It brings who dey nation together, notably when the Bengals are playing at Arrowhead, or when the Chiefs are having an unsuccessful game (i.e not playing well.) #Burrowhead will begin to circulate on social media websites, mainly on X (formerly twitter,) although it does make appearances on others as well: instagram, facebook, etc.

Adamska (2015) states that hashtags can be used for ‘various social campaigns… sometimes there are more dubious campaigns,’ this is similar to the function of #Burrowhead. This being to bring the fans together, and essentially rub it in the faces of Chiefs fans that Joe Burrow is the only active quarterback to beat Patrick Mahomes on his home turf.

Furthermore, it follows Laucuka’s (2018) assessment that hashtags are used to socialise, this one in particular gets the Bengals community talking, and sometimes fans of other NFL teams get involved - due to the Chiefs being a highly disliked team, and this hashtag being something that very quickly gets on their nerves.

Cunha et al (2011) suggests that hashtags are used to ‘promote specific topics and people’ and ‘for promotion and publicity.’ #Burrowhead conforms to these, with the hashtag itself being promotion for Joe Burrow, bringing attention to him and the 2022 game in which the Bengals won, sending the team to the coveted Super Bowl. This hashtag promotes discussions surrounding whether Mahomes truly is a good quarterback, or does he just have multiple factors working in his favour? This was questioned further following the Chiefs' performance against the Philadelphia Eagles in this year's Super bowl.

In terms of Tagg 2015’s metafunctions #Burrowhead showcases the interpersonal aspect, showing affiliation to the Cincinnati Bengals, it is often used in a textual way - helping the community to search relevant tweets and is used as punctuation within their tweets. And finally it is ideational, it indicates that anything following will be in reference to the Bengals and Chiefs rivalry.

Overall, #Burrowhead perfectly demonstrates the functions of a hashtag, bringing a community together, allowing them to connect in new ways and share their thoughts and affiliations.