# If you headbutted someone in the nose, how likely would you be to kill them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 15, 2010, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-headbutted-someone-in-the-nose-how-likely-would-you-be-to-kill-them/539533 "2010-05-15T11:34:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-headbutted-someone-in-the-nose-how-likely-would-you-be-to-kill-them/539533/21 "2010-05-15T20:27:10Z")
I think it is entirely likely. If you are a rhinocerous. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-headbutted-someone-in-the-nose-how-likely-would-you-be-to-kill-them/539533/22 "2010-05-15T20:39:09Z")
What would win in a head-butting contest between a rhino and a water buffalo? ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-headbutted-someone-in-the-nose-how-likely-would-you-be-to-kill-them/539533/23 "2010-05-15T20:39:23Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > I think it is entirely likely. If you are a rhinocerous. Preposterous. ---
**Author:** ![ivan\_astikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@ivan\_astikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivan_astikov)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-headbutted-someone-in-the-nose-how-likely-would-you-be-to-kill-them/539533/24 "2010-05-15T20:42:58Z")
> [@Autolycus](#): > > Preposterous. No, _rhinocerous_. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-headbutted-someone-in-the-nose-how-likely-would-you-be-to-kill-them/539533/25 "2010-05-16T03:24:30Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > How did he know what cerebrospinal fluid tastes like? He probably muttered something about “My mouth tastes funny, like \_\_\_\_” and the doctors were on the ball enough to realize that this was Really Bad ™ on top of the skull fractures. Shudder. ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-headbutted-someone-in-the-nose-how-likely-would-you-be-to-kill-them/539533/26 "2010-05-16T03:27:48Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > How did he know what cerebrospinal fluid tastes like? It was actually a head trauma doctor in the ER who told him; he had been called in by one of the team physicians as the ambulance was en route. > [@](#): > > In Tomjanovich’s mind at that moment, he was about to walk out of the emergency room, hail a cab, and go back to the Forum. Not play for the rest of the season? Now he really wanted to get Kermit Washington, regardless of the consequences. “I can’t ever remember being angrier than I was at that moment,” he said. > > Toffel’s face didn’t change expression. His voice was very soft. “Rudy, let me ask you a question,” he said. “Do you have any kind of funny taste in your mouth?” > > Tomjanovich’s eyes opened slightly. “Yeah, I do,” he said. “It doesn’t taste like blood either. It’s very bitter. What is it?” > > “Spinal fluid,” Toffel said. “You’re leaking spinal fluid from your brain. We’re going to get you up to ICU in a few minutes and we’re going to hope your brain capsule seals very soon. Do you know what the ICU is, Rudy?” > > Tomjanovich nodded. He knew what ICU stood for: intensive care unit. The rage was gone. It had been replaced by fear. [Book Excerpt: ‘The Punch,’ by John Feinstein](http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=125541&page=1) ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-headbutted-someone-in-the-nose-how-likely-would-you-be-to-kill-them/539533/27 "2010-05-16T03:40:18Z")
We covered this before: > **[Can you really kill a guy by driving his nose up into his brain?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=330571)** > > Is it really possible or is that just a load? ---
**Author:** ![GreedySmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a698b9/32.png) [@GreedySmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreedySmurf)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-headbutted-someone-in-the-nose-how-likely-would-you-be-to-kill-them/539533/28 "2010-05-16T22:31:27Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > The only way someone is going to die from a headbutt is if the concussive impulse knocks them unconscious and they aspirate blood until they drown. > > Stranger Not necessarily the only way. If their head connects with the ground after having been knocked unconscious that can have severe consequences. Their were two incidents in the space of a year in my home city (Brisbane), where someone was punched and died from injuries sustained as their heads hit the (concrete) ground. ---
**Author:** ![Livardo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/43a26b/32.png) [@Livardo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Livardo)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-headbutted-someone-in-the-nose-how-likely-would-you-be-to-kill-them/539533/29 "2010-05-17T15:16:04Z")
A couple of months ago some drunk fratboys picked a fight with me and my brother in Las Vegas. One of the guys approached and without warning headbutted my brother pretty badly and sent him off into the ground. After it was all over he had pretty good bump at the bridge of his nose but didn’t fracture anything. I think he would have had to be running full speed and do a football type of lunge to do any type of severe damage. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-headbutted-someone-in-the-nose-how-likely-would-you-be-to-kill-them/539533/30 "2010-05-17T16:40:02Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > Not necessarily the only way. If their head connects with the ground after having been knocked unconscious that can have severe consequences. > > Their were two incidents in the space of a year in my home city (Brisbane), where someone was punched and died from injuries sustained as their heads hit the (concrete) ground. Sure, but that isn’t a unique consequence of being the recipient of a headbutt. Any impulse that causes to someone to fall backwards or sideways in an uncontrolled manner can cause this type of injury. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-headbutted-someone-in-the-nose-how-likely-would-you-be-to-kill-them/539533/31 "2010-05-17T16:53:04Z")
> [@Rhythmdvl](#): > > Years and years ago we had a fantastic thread asking about headbutting in a fight. It had a lot of posts and back-and-forths with some well-respected posters chiming in. One, whose name I’m pained to admit I’ve forgotten (Glee? Glue? Gnu?) was, I think, a cop (maybe) and was one of the board martial art authorities. I think. Maybe he was Wally-ing everyone and I missed the fallout. Anyway, that’s my almost useless contribution to the thread, but maybe someone out there knows what I’m talking about and can find it. It’s worth reading. The poster was [Glitch](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=10738). Not as grandiose a thread as I remembered; maybe I just remember Glitch’s posts being a worthy read or I was conflating it with **Crafter\_Man’s** link. But there it is. Whatever happened to Glitch? Anyone else remember him? ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-headbutted-someone-in-the-nose-how-likely-would-you-be-to-kill-them/539533/32 "2010-05-17T23:38:50Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > As titled. If you grabbed somebody by the sides of the his head and slammed down your forehead on the bridge of his nose as hard as you could, would you kill him? > > Just curious. If it helps, you can presume I’m writing a crime novel or somethin’. I was under the impression that almost all deaths resulting from punching/kicking/headbutting (anything with just your body rather than a weapon of some kind) an upright, conscious individual were caused by them falling over and hitting the ground (or another hard object) with their head, not from the hit itself. ---
**Author:** ![Koxinga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/4af34b/32.png) [@Koxinga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Koxinga)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-headbutted-someone-in-the-nose-how-likely-would-you-be-to-kill-them/539533/33 "2010-05-18T00:30:17Z")
Well, that settles it, I’m off. Wish me luck! ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-headbutted-someone-in-the-nose-how-likely-would-you-be-to-kill-them/539533/34 "2010-05-18T16:08:41Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > Well, that settles it, I’m off. Wish me luck! Well if that doesn’t work just go around behind them and give their head a quick twist. It will immediately break their neck. And if you have a gun with you hit them in the back of the head with it. You’d think they’d be like “Ow, goddamn it, that hurt” but in actuality it knocks them right out. When they eventually come to they’ll be just fine with no after effects. Just like waking up from a short nap. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-headbutted-someone-in-the-nose-how-likely-would-you-be-to-kill-them/539533.md?page=1)