# "People kill because they don't like their ZIP code." Really? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 22, 2019, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-kill-because-they-dont-like-their-zip-code-really/842158 "2019-10-22T21:38:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-kill-because-they-dont-like-their-zip-code-really/842158/21 "2019-10-23T16:32:20Z")
“You didn’t use the extension? I’ll teach you about ZIP+4!” ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-kill-because-they-dont-like-their-zip-code-really/842158/22 "2019-10-23T17:39:33Z")
They did it with a zip gun. Poor George Zip. Now, let’s go win one for the Zipper. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/ek6PwrcaYKw/hqdefault.jpg "In Memory of Leslie Nielsen (and George Zip)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek6PwrcaYKw) ---
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-kill-because-they-dont-like-their-zip-code-really/842158/23 "2019-10-23T19:43:33Z")
> [@Jasmine](#): > > Now that you mention it, I really dislike my zip code at work because, for some reason, it is very hard to remember. It’s really annoying … :mad: (note to self: Avoid postal discussions with Jasmine…) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2019, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-kill-because-they-dont-like-their-zip-code-really/842158/24 "2019-10-23T22:03:31Z")
You do realize writers often make things up that have absolutely nothing to do with any real life event? ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-kill-because-they-dont-like-their-zip-code-really/842158/25 "2019-10-24T13:31:22Z")
> [@Riemann](#): > > I think it’s just a rhetorical way of saying that people are are nuts, and they commit murder for bizarre & trivial reasons. > > But the “once is all it takes” followup does give me slight pause, I agree. It’s a slightly odd thing to say if its just rhetorical. I agree with the first part. The “once is all it takes” part only means that once you establish that people have killed for a trivial reason, even only once, you can’t say “people don’t kill because X” anymore. It’s also a very Rockford line. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-kill-because-they-dont-like-their-zip-code-really/842158/26 "2019-10-24T15:49:48Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > It’s also a very Rockford line. That came to mind, but I would not have phrased it that well. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-kill-because-they-dont-like-their-zip-code-really/842158/27 "2019-10-24T16:20:20Z")
> [@Cheesesteak](#): > > I agree with the first part. > > The “once is all it takes” part only means that once you establish that people have killed for a trivial reason, even only once, you can’t say “people don’t kill because X” anymore. > > It’s also a very Rockford line. I think perhaps the ‘once it all it takes’ doesn’t refer to being killed for trivial reason, but to being killed as such—as in, once you’re killed, you’re dead. ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-kill-because-they-dont-like-their-zip-code-really/842158/28 "2019-10-24T17:26:56Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It was just a way of saying “people will kill for the slightest of reasons”. He could just as well have said “People kill because someone’s shoes are the wrong color.” Really. I don’t know how the Manson murders relate to zip codes at all. The LaBiancas weren’t in the same zip code as the Tate house. And the Tate House was just one that Manson had been to and knew. But, yeah, it’s a typical Rockford type throwaway line. ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-kill-because-they-dont-like-their-zip-code-really/842158/29 "2019-10-24T20:32:28Z")
Just stopped by to commend the OP’s good taste. I have the complete Rockford Files DVD set. Last night I watched one with Skye Aquarian, the hippie chick, who Jim’s dad calls “Miss Aquarium.” ---
**Author:** ![Drum\_God](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drum_god/32/44_2.png) [@Drum\_God](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drum_God)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-kill-because-they-dont-like-their-zip-code-really/842158/30 "2019-10-24T21:28:55Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Think of those poor devils who live in ZIP code xx666. ZIPs of the Beast, by yimini! I went to school at Southwest Texas State University (now called Texas State University). The home of the Bobcats is in San Marcos, Texas, 78666. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-kill-because-they-dont-like-their-zip-code-really/842158/31 "2019-10-24T21:43:21Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Think of those poor devils who live in ZIP code xx666. ZIPs of the Beast, by yimini! Topeka, Kansas has most of the 666xx codes. Hmmmm. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-kill-because-they-dont-like-their-zip-code-really/842158/32 "2019-10-24T22:36:50Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > Topeka, Kansas has most of the 666xx codes. Hmmmm. [Fred Phelps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Phelps), of Westboro Baptist Church, ran for mayor of Topeka on a platform that included convincing the USPS to change Topeka’s “number of the Beast” ZIP code. He lost. (All of the 666xx are Topeka codes.) ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-kill-because-they-dont-like-their-zip-code-really/842158/33 "2019-10-24T23:53:41Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > You do realize writers often make things up that have absolutely nothing to do with any real life event? As do White House spox. But except for the political stuff, fictioneers have a hard time because fiction must (mostly) make sense while reality needn’t. Postal code murders? Sure, that could happen. Postal code seductions? Sure, in pr0n. Postal code mutations? Yes, where the toxins accumulate, but try to make a story of that. “We moved to ZIP 66666; the backyard was filled with dead rats and then we grew tumors.” Sounds like a Fox News filler. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-kill-because-they-dont-like-their-zip-code-really/842158.md?page=1)