# Etiology of "Zipperhead" - Offensive **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 21, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiology-of-zipperhead-offensive/163179 "2003-03-21T18:31:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ChunkyLover53](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c0e974/32.png) [@ChunkyLover53](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChunkyLover53)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiology-of-zipperhead-offensive/163179/1 "2003-03-21T18:31:50Z")
Does anyone know the background on why Vietnamese were called “zipperheads” as a derogatory name in the Vietnamese War? ---
**Author:** ![Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/73ab20/32.png) [@Caesar\_s\_Ghost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caesar_s_Ghost)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiology-of-zipperhead-offensive/163179/2 "2003-03-21T18:59:12Z")
According to [this site](http://rsdb.fuck.org/?2) (the site has a swear word in its name, but it’s a dictionary of racial terms so mods, whatever you think), zipperhead means: > [@](#): > > Coined by US soldiers during Korean War. Also used in the film Full Metal Jacket. Two possible reasons: 1) if Asians were shot in the head with high-powered weapons, their heads would split as if you unzipped them or 2) many times the Asians would be run over by military Jeeps, which left tire tracks on them that resembled zippers. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiology-of-zipperhead-offensive/163179/3 "2003-03-21T19:27:11Z")
Ick. **Caesar’s Ghost** ’s excerpt has plenty of information that I don’t feel any need to click on the link. But I would like to point out that etiology refers to the cause[s] of a disease. If you are interested in discussing the origins of words, you might want to familiarize yourself with the term _etymology_. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiology-of-zipperhead-offensive/163179/4 "2003-03-21T20:24:23Z")
I always thought this was a reference to someone who had had a lobotomy, because of the scar. Didn’t know it had anything to do with either the Viet Nam war or Korean war. ---
**Author:** ![micco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f8ce5/32.png) [@micco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micco)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiology-of-zipperhead-offensive/163179/5 "2003-03-21T20:43:44Z")
Word Spy cites current usage as non-racial, referring to idiots: [http://www.wordspy.com/words/zipperhead.asp](http://www.wordspy.com/words/zipperhead.asp) But they cite ealiest-usage in the 80s, so you’re clearly looking for deeper roots. ---
**Author:** ![ScoobyTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@ScoobyTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScoobyTX)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiology-of-zipperhead-offensive/163179/6 "2003-03-21T22:39:46Z")
[The Short-Timers](http://www.short-timers.com/short.htm) by Gustav Hasford was the basis for “Full Metal Jacket” (1987), and was published in 1978. This is seven years before the earliest use cited by “Word Spy.” [This chapter](http://www.short-timers.com/Shorty2.rtf) contains 2 instances of “zipperhead.” ---
**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiology-of-zipperhead-offensive/163179/7 "2003-03-22T01:51:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kaylasdad99 \* > \*\*But I would like to point out that etiology refers to the cause[s] of a disease. If you are interested in discussing the origins of words, you might want to familiarize yourself with the term _etymology_. \*\* Gee. Don’t you hate it when you make a mistake while correcting someone? Yes, etymology can be used for the sturdy of the origin of a word, however, it more properly refers to the use of forms of the word and how they changed or were appropriated from other languages over time. Etiology, while used most often for the cause of disease, can be used more broadly for assigning cause for anything. In literary circles, a myth that explains ‘why things are’ is an etiological myth. And so looking for the cause of a (relatively) newly coined slang word wouldn’t involve so much tracing down the roots of the syllables (etymology), but finding a cause for the visual image that ‘zipperhead’ evokes (etiology). ## Peace. What’s the words entymology? ---
**Author:** ![occ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8c91f0/32.png) [@occ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/occ)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiology-of-zipperhead-offensive/163179/8 "2003-03-22T02:57:20Z")
FWIW, there’s actually a soda called “Zipperhead Cola”. My first thought on seeing it was that it was a racial slur, but I suspect it originally meant “moron”. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etiology-of-zipperhead-offensive/163179/9 "2003-03-22T05:56:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by moriah \* > \*\*Gee. Don’t you hate it when you make a mistake while correcting someone? > > Yes, etymology can be used for the sturdy of the origin of a word, however, it more properly refers to the use of forms of the word and how they changed or were appropriated from other languages over time. > > Etiology, while used most often for the cause of disease, can be used more broadly for assigning cause for anything. In literary circles, a myth that explains ‘why things are’ is an etiological myth. And so looking for the cause of a (relatively) newly coined slang word wouldn’t involve so much tracing down the roots of the syllables (etymology), but finding a cause for the visual image that ‘zipperhead’ evokes (etiology). > > ## Peace. > > What’s the words entymology? \*\* Next you’re probably going to tell me that entymology is NOT the study of Ents? 😉