# full metal jacket

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-metal-jacket/215285>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [November 26, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-metal-jacket/215285 "2003-11-26T01:05:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-metal-jacket/215285/1 "2003-11-26T01:05:51Z")

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I watched full metal jacket for the first time ever recently and it was kick ass. anyway I was wondering, how come they called the vietnamese soldiers zipperheads?

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**Author:** ![troub](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troub/32/14802_2.png) [@troub](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/troub)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-metal-jacket/215285/2 "2003-11-26T01:22:39Z")

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I was able to find many sites online that gave a slang definition, most often referring to a “closed-minded” person. I don’t think for a second that that’s what the soldiers in the '60s meant by it. This is the only site I could find listing it as a slur towards Vietnamese AND explaining why (there were, of course, many sites listing it as an ethnic slur, but most had no explanation). I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it’s all I could find:  
[http://www.asianjoke.com/others/ethnic\_slurs.htm](http://www.asianjoke.com/others/ethnic_slurs.htm)

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**Author:** ![PigArcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@PigArcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigArcher)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-metal-jacket/215285/3 "2003-11-26T05:54:58Z")

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I always assumed it was because of the eyes, but that’s just a WAG.

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**Author:** ![Fang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/96bed5/32.png) [@Fang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fang)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-metal-jacket/215285/4 "2003-11-26T06:06:33Z")

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Warning: offensive racist language on following page

> **[Urban Dictionary: zipperhead](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=zipperhead&f=1)**
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> A derogatory term used in reference to people of Asian descent. It is said to have been coined during the Korean war by frontline troops whom had run over enemy troops in jeeps. The soldiers claimed that the tire tracks from the jeeps left a pattern...

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**Author:** ![owlofcreamcheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@owlofcreamcheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlofcreamcheese)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2003, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/full-metal-jacket/215285/5 "2003-11-26T06:41:16Z")

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I always heard it was along the lines of “you shoot them and their head head comes apart like its being unzipped”