# Is an 'unzipped arrow" simply one that hasn't been shot? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 4, 2021, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-unzipped-arrow-simply-one-that-hasnt-been-shot/932184 "2021-02-04T07:39:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-unzipped-arrow-simply-one-that-hasnt-been-shot/932184/1 "2021-02-04T07:39:26Z")
Is an 'unzipped arrow" simply one that hasn’t been shot? I came across the term while watching a program on Ötzi the glacier mummy I suppose Copper Age hunters would have reused their shot arrows. I had hear of an arrow ‘zipping’ or letting an arrow ‘zip’, but never ‘unzipped arrows’. I hope someone can answer the question for me. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-unzipped-arrow-simply-one-that-hasnt-been-shot/932184/2 "2021-02-04T08:19:20Z")
Maybe referring to the feathers? > **[Zipping up a Feather](https://beyondthehumaneye.blogspot.com/2009/06/zipping-up-fether.html?m=1)** > > There’s a whole lot of moulting going on at the moment in the bird world, as they begin to shed their well-worn breeding plumage. My w... ---
**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-unzipped-arrow-simply-one-that-hasnt-been-shot/932184/3 "2021-02-04T10:16:08Z")
At a risk of stating the obvious, every arrow is at one point unused, ie. unshot. It has no bearing on whether or not that arrow will be shot countless times in the future. Chalcolithic Alpine hunters reused their arrows just like everybody else. Ötzi had mostly unfinished arrows in his quiver. So, I guess they were ‘unzipped’, a term I have never heard after 35 years of practicing (pre-)historic archery and bowyery. It would not be the first, or tenth time, that documentary makers have pretty much invented words for esoteric subject matters. ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-unzipped-arrow-simply-one-that-hasnt-been-shot/932184/4 "2021-02-04T20:09:05Z")
Thanks Toxylon. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-unzipped-arrow-simply-one-that-hasnt-been-shot/932184/5 "2021-02-04T22:28:47Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > It would not be the first, or tenth time, that documentary makers have pretty much invented words for esoteric subject matters. Probably a free translation from the Italian. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-unzipped-arrow-simply-one-that-hasnt-been-shot/932184/6 "2021-02-05T11:23:01Z")
Are you sure they didn’t say ‘untipped’? (i.e. not finished with a point or arrowhead) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-unzipped-arrow-simply-one-that-hasnt-been-shot/932184/7 "2021-02-05T14:16:32Z")
> [@Toxylon](#): > > Ötzi had mostly unfinished arrows in his quiver. From the [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96tzi) article > Other items found with the Iceman were a copper axe with a [yew](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxus_baccata) handle, a [chert](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chert)-bladed [knife](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knife) with an [ash](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ash_tree) handle and a [quiver](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiver) of 14 arrows with [viburnum](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viburnum) and [dogwood](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dogwood) shafts.[[45]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96tzi#cite_note-45)[[46]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96tzi#cite_note-PetragliaWierer2018-46) Two of the arrows, which were broken, were tipped with flint and had [fletching](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletching) (stabilizing fins), while the other 12 were unfinished and **untipped** 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![Octagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/2acd7d/32.png) [@Octagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octagon)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2021, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-unzipped-arrow-simply-one-that-hasnt-been-shot/932184/8 "2021-02-05T22:21:30Z")
Thank you Mangetout. It’s likely I misheard the word ‘untipped’. Issue solved. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2021, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-unzipped-arrow-simply-one-that-hasnt-been-shot/932184/9 "2021-02-06T00:31:07Z")
Also, he was found on a melting glazier, but how to you melt a window installer? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2021, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-unzipped-arrow-simply-one-that-hasnt-been-shot/932184/10 "2021-02-06T06:15:12Z")
Bucket of soapy water? ---
**Author:** ![BippityBoppityBoo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bippityboppityboo/32/5745_2.png) [@BippityBoppityBoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BippityBoppityBoo)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2021, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-unzipped-arrow-simply-one-that-hasnt-been-shot/932184/11 "2021-02-06T08:41:20Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > but how to you melt a window installer? Show them unlimited videos of kittens romping? ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2021, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-an-unzipped-arrow-simply-one-that-hasnt-been-shot/932184/12 "2021-02-06T09:52:32Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > he was found on a melting glazier We should alert the glassworkers’ union.