Why was "一匹" used for Godzilla?


I've heard someone say that "一匹{いっぴき}" was used at the end of the original
Godzilla movie, with Dr. Yamane saying that Godzilla wasn't the last one of
"them".

Why did he use that, as opposed to "一頭{いっとう}"? Do Japanese speakers sometimes
use the wrong counter to be ironic, or is there another reason?




There is certainly a reason for that. In this case, it is for expressing
Yamane's (or the human kind's) derogatory feelings toward Godzilla.

The counter 「[頭]{とう}」 simply does not carry that derogatory connotation among
us Japanese-speakers; It can only be neutral. In case this is what you are
wondering about, the size of Gozilla does not matter as Godzilla is way too
large to begin with. The general real-life rule of "匹 for smaller animals and
頭 for larger animals" does not apply here.

「[一匹]{いっぴき}」, however, does just the job when used in the right context. With
it, you can "say" out loud "little f*****" without actually saying it.

Believe it or not, 匹 can even be used to refer to humans if they are your
enemies. In sports, excited fans often use it to refer to the opponents. You
will hear people say something like 「さあ, あと一匹だっ！」 at the bottom of the 9th
inning with two outs in baseball.




There is certainly a reason for that. In this case, it is for expressing
Yamane's (or the human kind's) derogatory feelings toward Godzilla.

The counter 「[頭]{とう}」 simply does not carry that derogatory connotation among
us Japanese-speakers; It can only be neutral. In case this is what you are
wondering about, the size of Gozilla does not matter as Godzilla is way too
large to begin with. The general real-life rule of "匹 for smaller animals and
頭 for larger animals" does not apply here.

「[一匹]{いっぴき}」, however, does just the job when used in the right context. With
it, you can "say" out loud "little f*****" without actually saying it.

Believe it or not, 匹 can even be used to refer to humans if they are your
enemies. In sports, excited fans often use it to refer to the opponents. You
will hear people say something like 「さあ, あと一匹だっ！」 at the bottom of the 9th
inning with two outs in baseball.

