Sheri P Apr 22, 2016:

@Wendy In reference to your comment on Helen's answer, I'm a US-based translator and am not personally familiar with the term "lemonhead" used in this context. That's what made me wonder if it was a term translated from Russian. I find Helen's and Charles's references compelling, though.

Charles Davis Apr 22, 2016:

Another An ironic comment on a blog by a Chinese American on being called a "yellow nigga":

"Considering you're Chinese, he should stick to chink, gook, slant eyes, zipperhead, coolie, slope, or lemonhead. It's just nice when the proper slur is used. It makes everything feel right."
http://dearricky.xanga.com/2009/12/18/paul_partisan-yellow-n...

Charles Davis Apr 22, 2016:

Dipping into much murkier waters... Sorry, but it's for the sake of research. A forum entitled "Joran's RACIST word's [sic] of the day", containing this gem:

"And any of the asian slurs. Chink and gook are great, but i've been tossing around zipperhead and lemonhead quite a bit lately!!"
http://board.rapbasement.com/forum/categories/misc/424225-jo...

Charming people. I suppose everyone needs a hobby.

Charles Davis Apr 22, 2016:

An actual use of "lemonhead" I'm always a little uneasy when the only references are dictionaries and word lists, but it's very hard to find to find examples of people actually using the word "lemonhead". However, here's one, from a truly awful poem (so bad it reads like a parody) about a little Asian girl at school. It does seem to show that the word really is used as an insult:

"It was the year of ‘09 when a little girl ran,
across the yard, under the sun, with a slight tan.
Accepted to a new school as a Gifted student,
Just a little loud, excited, nervous, and prudent.
A minority culture not accepted in class,
"Chink", "lemonhead", she sometimes ate grass.
Because of the sad words they said,
It was sometimes hard to go to bed."
https://prezi.com/dzgmq-3mrhkg/my-transitions-skills-list/

Wendy Cummings (asker) Apr 22, 2016:

@Sheri P I had a brief look in Russian for the equivalent of "lemon head" and "lemon face" but I couldn't see anything obvious (although its been a while since I did any Russian and so I cannot browse pages quickly)