zipperhead
English edit
Etymology 1 edit
zipper + head. From the leather helmets formerly used by early Canadian armoured crewmen, with a pattern of stitching resembling a zipper. There is also a folk etymology referring to the zippers on armoured-vehicle crew suits (repurposed flight suits).
Noun edit
zipperhead (plural zipperheads)
- (Canada, military slang) A soldier in the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps or in the Armoured Crewman military trade.
Synonyms edit
References edit
- Edward C. Russell (1980), Customs and Traditions of the Canadian Armed Forces, Deneau and Greenberg, Department of National Defence, →ISBN, p 65.
Etymology 2 edit
1960s–1970s, zipper + head. Used by soldiers during the Korean and Vietnam Wars; multiple hypotheses exist as to the specific origin. One is that if an East Asian person were shot in the middle of the forehead with a machine gun, the head would split as if being unzipped; another, that the appearance of tire tracks on a body having been run over by a military Jeep or that of tank tracks resembled a zipper.
Noun edit
zipperhead (plural zipperheads)