I’ve lived more than 20 years in the US. I’m a “language freak” and have done research in lexicology all my (long) life and never saw or heard the word zinger untill I saw it in the last issue of Time magazine concerning US politics. Google gives several definitions and thesaurus.com gives many synonyms. Time quote “…all adept with a twitter zinger and prone to inflammatory statements…” I don’t doubt dopers know this word but what about the millions others ?
I don’t recall NOT knowing the word. I’d say it’s always been in the vernacular here in Canada.
Since this will mostly consist of people stating whether they know the word or not, let’s move it to IMHO.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Since the word in the current sense is attested to as far back as 1955, and I encounter it frequently, I’m surprised the OP has not.
Merriam-Webster indicates it as being “US, informal,” suggesting it might not be so widespread in other anglophone countries.
Hostess Zingers. I love the raspberry
Known but rarely used in Australia, usually used to describe a rehearsed one-liner that doesn’t quite hit the mark or falls desperately flat. Not sure if it has quite the same dud-joke meaning in other places.
The term was popularised during the 2014 Federal election when comedian Shaun Micallef would compile these unfunny quips from the leading politicians on his show.
Example here
I recall it being a fairly new and unusual word in these here parts back then.
E—xactly!
If, at gunpoint, I was forced to eat KFC then aZinger Burger it would be.
Perhaps the problem is that the word is a mostly forgotten term, common only earlier than the OP’s 20-year stay. I used to hear it or see far more often than today.
Google ngrams seems to contradict this, since the graph goes way up toward 2000. But when I checked the actual hits, I found that not a single one was for the slang use. They were all for somebody’s name or Red Zinger tea or another nominative usage.
Doesn’t mean much to me, from my British perspective. Of course, doesn’t mean other Brits don’t know or use it - they probably do. I’m potentially just not down with the kids.
Zinger burger I’ve vaguely heard of, although I haven’t entered a KFC… possibly ever.
I am familiar with Hostess Zingers from childhood. I learned of zinger meaning “a verbal barb, especially a clever and/or pithy one” maybe around high school sometime.
Born and raised in SE Louisiana, if region makes a difference. It’s not a word you’ll hear spoken out loud locally.
Throwing zingers on Twitter, as the OP gives in the Time magazine quote, would to me be a slight extension of the term.
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Cecil himself would throw out the word “zinger” from time to time. Here’s a classic Groucho Marx tale from one of his columns that perfectly demonstrates just what a “zinger” is:
South African, familiar with it and so is everyone i know, no doubt.
And then there’s Red Zinger tea.
I’m aware of the word “zinger”, and I’m the only really important person in the anglophone world, so yes, everyone (who matters) in the anglophone world knows “zinger”.
Interesting graph. My stay in the US was before 1980.
If only they didn’t ruin them with coconut. 
I guess the people in my workplace (Smithsonian) did’nt use the word.
Another non-US …hesitancy. It sounded vaguely familiar in two contexts - food and nerve pain.
OK, so it turns out there is a burger with that name. I’ve been in a Burger King two or three times in my life, and not in the last five years. I guess that’s something that filtered into my consciousness through advertising.
Nerve pain - well, I worked on some neurogenic pain stuff the best part of 10 years ago, and I guess I heard it used then.
Beyond that, nothing.
j
To add - we’ve had Red Zinger tea and KFC Zinger meals for ages - 1990s maybe, though I immediately went to the lame joke meaning.
I’m close to 40 and my recollection is that it was something old people said. I don’t think anyone in my age group would use it.
ETA: Always in reference to a barbed joke.