A tin foil hat is a piece of headgear made from one or more sheets of aluminium foil or similar material. Alternatively it may be a conventional hat lined with foil. One may wear the hat in the belief that it shields the brain from electromagnetic fields; to prevent mind control and/or mind reading; or to limit the transmission of voices directly into the brain.
The concept of wearing a tin foil hat for protection from such threats has become a popular stereotype and term of derision; the phrase serves as a byword for paranoia and persecutory delusions, and is associated with conspiracy theorists.
This stereotype is popular in pop culture, with tin foil hats making appearances in movies such as Signs and Futurama: Into the Wild Green Yonder.
Read more about Tin Foil Hat: Origin of Concept, Scientific Basis
Famous quotes containing the words tin, foil and/or hat:
“The knocking out of a pipe can be made almost as important as the smoking of it, especially if there are nervous people in the room. A good, smart knock of a pipe against a tin wastebasket and you will have a neurasthenic out of his chair and into the window sash in no time.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)
“Like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glitt’ring o’er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“The agent never receipts his bill, puts his hat on and bows himself out. He stays around forever, not only for as long as you can write anything that anyone will buy, but as long as anyone will buy any portion of any right to anything that you ever did write. He just takes ten per cent of your life.”
—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)