Editing Frank Zappa (section)

===Childhood===
Zappa was born on December 21, 1940, in [[Baltimore]], Maryland, to Rose Marie ({{nee}} Colimore) and Francis Vincent Zappa. He was predominately of Sicilian descent but also had Greek, Arab and French ancestors.{{refn|group="nb"|"My ancestry is Sicilian, Greek, Arab and French. My mother's mother was French and Sicilian, and her Dad was Italian (from Naples). She was first generation. The Greek-Arab side is from my Dad. He was born in a Sicilian village called Partinico&nbsp;..."<ref name="Occhiogrosso">{{cite book |last1=Zappa |first1=Frank |author-link=Frank Zappa |last2=Occhiogrosso |first2=Peter |title=Real Frank Zappa Book |date=1989 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-671-70572-5 |url=https://archive.org/details/realfrankzappabo0000zapp}}</ref>{{rp|15}}}}

The eldest of four children, he was raised in an Italian-American household where Italian was often spoken by his grandparents.<ref name="Occhiogrosso"/>{{rp|6}}<ref name="Rolling Stone Book">''The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll'', 1993.</ref> The family moved often because his father, a [[chemist]] and mathematician, worked in the defense industry. After a time in [[Florida]] in the 1940s, the family returned to [[Maryland]], where Zappa's father worked at the [[Edgewood Arsenal]] [[chemical warfare]] facility of the [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]] run by the [[U.S. Army]]. Due to their home's proximity to the arsenal, which stored [[mustard gas]], gas masks were kept in the home in case of an accident.<ref name="Occhiogrosso"/>{{rp|20–23}} This living arrangement had a profound effect on Zappa, and references to germs, germ warfare, ailments and the defense industry occur frequently throughout his work.<ref name="miles">{{cite book| title = Frank Zappa| first = Barry| last = Miles| publisher=Atlantic Books| location = London| date = 2004|isbn = 978-1-84354-092-2}}</ref>{{rp|8–9}}

Zappa's father often brought [[Mercury (element)|mercury]]-filled lab equipment home from his workplace and gave it to Zappa to play with.<ref name="Occhiogrosso"/>{{rp|19}}  Zappa said that as a child he "used to play with it all the time", often by putting liquid mercury on the floor and using a hammer to spray out mercury droplets in a circular pattern, eventually covering the entire floor of his bedroom with them.<ref>{{cite book |title=Real Frank Zappa Book |date=1989 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-0-671-70572-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FB0O_HCpBy0C&pg=PA19 |access-date=May 1, 2022}}</ref>

Zappa was often sick as a child, suffering from [[asthma]], [[earache]]s and [[Paranasal sinuses|sinus]] problems. A doctor treated his sinusitis by inserting a pellet of [[radium]] into each of Zappa's nostrils. At the time, little was known about the potential dangers of even small amounts of therapeutic radiation and mercury exposure.<ref name="miles"/>{{rp|10}}

Nasal imagery and references appear in his music and lyrics, as well as in the collage album covers created by his long-time collaborator [[Cal Schenkel]]. Zappa believed his childhood diseases might have been due to exposure to mustard gas released by the nearby chemical warfare facility, and his health worsened when he lived in Baltimore.<ref name="Occhiogrosso"/>{{rp|20–23}}<ref name="miles"/>{{rp|10}} In 1952, his family relocated for reasons of health to [[Monterey, California]], where his father taught [[metallurgy]] at the [[Naval Postgraduate School]].<ref name="Occhiogrosso"/>{{rp|22}} They soon moved to the [[San Diego]] neighborhood of [[Clairemont, San Diego|Clairemont]],<ref name="slaven03">{{cite book |title=Electric Don Quixote: The Definitive Story of Frank Zappa |edition=2nd |first1=Neil |last1=Slaven |publisher=Music Sales Group|date=2003|isbn=978-0-7119-9436-2|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a4EyfFjQ3DgC}}</ref>{{rp|46}} and then to the nearby city of [[El Cajon, California|El Cajon]], before finally returning to San Diego.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sandiegotroubadour.com/wp-content/pdf/2005_11_Nov.pdf|title=Counter Culture Coincidence|work=San Diego Troubadour|last=Mendoza|first=Bart|page=4|date=November 11, 2005|access-date=September 11, 2010}}</ref>