Why this word is great
TOTENKOPF — [Noun] A death's head used as a military emblem, particularly associated with German military units. Borrowed from German Totenkopf, literally 'dead person's head' (Toten, genitive of tot 'dead' + Kopf 'head'). Unlike 'Jolly Roger' (which flaunts pirate bravado) or 'memento mori' (which whispers of universal decay), Totenkopf is institutionalized mortality, a skull stripped of metaphor and pressed into service. It is the cold gleam of silver on a hussar’s shako, the black enamel of an SS officer’s ring, the hollow-eyed insignia stenciled on the side of a Panzer tank: death not as a universal fate, but as a tool, a banner, a vocation. Some symbols remind us we must die; this one reminds us that others must, too.