zipperhead

== English == === Pronunciation === === Etymology 1 === From 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 ==== zipperhead (plural zipperheads) (Canada, military slang) A soldier in the Royal Canadian Armoured Corps or in the Armoured Crewman military trade. ===== Synonyms ===== trooper crewman, tanker, armoured crewman, armoured soldier tread-head, treadhead ===== References ===== Edward C. Russell (1980), Customs and Traditions of the Canadian Armed Forces, Deneau and Greenberg, Department of National Defence, →ISBN, p 65. === Etymology 2 === 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 is that the appearance of tire or tank tracks on a body which had been run over by a military Jeep or tank resembled a zipper. ==== Noun ==== zipperhead (plural zipperheads) (US, military slang, derogatory, offensive, ethnic slur) A person of East Asian descent. ===== Synonyms ===== almond eyes chicken lips dink gook slant eye slopehead zipperlid === Further reading === “zipperhead”, in Google Books Ngram Viewer.