# Term--Suicide Blonde--Meaning? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 20, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416 "2013-06-20T01:16:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/1 "2013-06-20T01:16:48Z")
The phrase “Suicide Blonde”…where does it come from? What is it’s meaning? I **think** it come from hard boiled detective novels, or Film Noir, but I can’t be certain. ---
**Author:** ![mozchron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mozchron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mozchron)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/2 "2013-06-20T01:18:47Z")
“Dyed” by her own hand… ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/3 "2013-06-20T01:22:42Z")
I think it’s just an old INXS song: [Suicide Blonde - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_Blonde). I’ve never heard it in any other context. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/4 "2013-06-20T01:28:24Z")
> [@mozchron](#): > > “Dyed” by her own hand… > [@Manduck](#): > > I think it’s just an old INXS song: [Suicide Blonde - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_Blonde). I’ve never heard it in any other context. And note from that Wiki link: > [@](#): > > The song was named after a woman who had bleached her own hair because she had “dyed” by her own hand and who was “love devastation”. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/5 "2013-06-20T01:31:19Z")
> [@mozchron](#): > > “Dyed” by her own hand… This. A bottle blonde who did her own hair. Also apparently a movie I’d never heard of. [Suicide Blonde (1999) - IMDb](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0288831/) ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/6 "2013-06-20T01:34:16Z")
ISTM I recall hearing this phrase in the late 60’s. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/7 "2013-06-20T01:35:11Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And note from that Wiki link: > [@](#): > > The song was named after a woman who had bleached her own hair because she had “dyed” by her own hand and who was “love devastation”. Maybe it’s just me, but I can’t parse that sentence to save my life. I don’t know what it means. And, like Manduck, the only place I’ve ever heard it is from the song, but I’ve really never listened to the lyrics all that closely. I honestly don’t know what the song’s about. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/8 "2013-06-20T01:55:29Z")
[http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=17879](http://www.wordwizard.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=17879) This cites a 1942 source and refers to earlier use in the 1930’s. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/9 "2013-06-20T13:46:56Z")
First time I ever came across the term was in a _Super Friends_ comic, I kid you not. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/10 "2013-06-20T14:00:53Z")
It took an embarrassingly long time before I twigged the origin of that phrase. Without really knowing exactly what it signified I vaguely assumed it meant an hot blonde for whom men would happily kill themselves. Yeah, not that at all. Seems fairly likely to me that it started out as a music-hall gag, along the lines of “My wife’s a suicide blonde.” “A suicide blonde, you say?” “Yes - dyed by her own hand!” _cymbal crash_ ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/11 "2013-06-20T14:58:50Z")
> [@Colophon](#): > > It took an embarrassingly long time before I twigged the origin of that phrase. Without really knowing exactly what it signified I vaguely assumed it meant an hot blonde for whom men would happily kill themselves. Yeah, not that at all. Yeah, but. That meaning has come into use – it sure seems to be the way it’s used in the [INXS song](http://www.lyricsfreak.com/i/inxs/suicide+blonde_20067837.html), so it’s as legitimate as the original punning meaning. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/12 "2013-06-21T02:19:39Z")
I can find a newspaper cite from 1920 saying specifically “dyed by her own hand.” I’d say that helps to prove it. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2013, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/13 "2013-06-21T23:00:21Z")
Nifty. Many 10Qs to one & all. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/14 "2013-06-22T01:42:46Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > … > > 10Qs… 🙂 Never saw that before. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/15 "2013-06-22T02:54:08Z")
I just read the INXS autobiography, and I’m pretty sure the song title comes from an actual name of a blonde hair dye color. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/16 "2013-06-22T04:19:58Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > 🙂 Never saw that before. QQQQ. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/17 "2013-06-22T06:57:57Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > QQQQ. Heh. QQQQ2. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2013, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/term-suicide-blonde-meaning/661416/18 "2013-06-22T08:38:00Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > 🙂 Never saw that before. The first time I saw it was [here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=f-V1aCjgzlg#t=124s).