Ah. Yikes. But randomly bashing a few keys with control held before ^z still worked for me... Random key-bashing is always a good bet if stuck in vim.

(yes, I can usually get out of vim "properly" these days)

Random key bashing in vim can have a lot of unforeseen consequences for whatever poor file you had opened.

Given I never intentionally start vim, it's generally when I get thrown into editing some temporary file or other on some system where I haven't configured an editor. Not done any harm in the last 3 decades, so I think the odds are decent.

If you open any file and just type "DZZ" (in capital), you delete the first line of file and save and quit.

Even if I'd have done that, with the type of things I now and again end up accidentally thrown into vim for, that would hardly matter.