A reader: “Those WWI German helmets with the weird spike on top — what’s

THAT all about?”

It was called a pickelhaube, Sir (“pickaxe-hat”), and its origin is unknown

to me. The only explanations I can come up with off, er, the top of my

head, are:

(1) Real good for head-butting the enemy.

(2) If you take it off, upend it, and ram the spike into the ground, you

have a stable container for water or other fluids.