Satiric misspelling
A satiric misspelling is an intentional misspelling of a word, phrase or name for a rhetorical purpose. This is often done by replacing a letter with another letter (for example, k replacing c), or symbol (for example, $ replacing s, @ replacing a, or ¢ replacing c). Satiric misspelling is found particularly in informal writing on the Internet, but can also be found in some serious political writing that opposes the status quo.
K replacing c
Replacing the letter c with k in the first letter of a word came into use by the Ku Klux Klan during its early years in the mid-to-late 19th century. The concept is continued today within the ranks of the Klan.
![](../I/m/Barc_okupa.jpg)
In the 1960s and early 1970s in the United States, leftists, particularly the Yippies, sometimes used Amerika rather than America in referring to the United States.[1][2][3][4][5] It is still used as a political statement today.[6][7] It is likely that this was originally an allusion to the German spelling of the word, and intended to be suggestive of Nazism, a hypothesis that the Oxford English Dictionary supports.
In broader usage, the replacement of the letter c with k denotes general political skepticism about the topic at hand and is intended to discredit or debase the term in which the replacement occurs.[8]
A similar usage in Italian, Spanish, Catalan and Portuguese is to write okupa rather than ocupa (often on a building or area occupied by squatters,[9] referring to the name adopted by okupación activist groups), which is particularly remarkable because the letter "k" is rarely found in either Spanish, Portuguese or Italian words. It stems from Spanish anarchist and punk movements which used "k" to signal rebellion.[10]
Replacing "c" with "k" was at the centre of a Monty Python joke from the Travel Agent sketch. Eric Idle has an affliction that makes him pronounce the letter C as a B, as in "bolour" instead of "colour." Michael Palin asks him if he can say the letter K? Idle replies that he can, and Palin suggests that he spell words with a K instead of C. Idle replies, "what, spell bolour with a K? Kolour. Oh! I never thought of that before! What a silly bunt!"
KKK replacing c or k
A common satiric usage of the letters KKK is the spelling of America as Amerikkka, alluding to the Ku Klux Klan, drawing to a perceived notion of an underlying or inherent racism in American society. The earliest known usage of Amerikkka recorded in the Oxford English Dictionary is in 1970, in a journal called Black World. Presumably, this was an extrapolation from the then already widespread Amerika.
The spelling Amerikkka came into greater use after the 1990 release of the gangsta rap album AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted by Ice Cube, also used by rapper Spice 1 for his album AmeriKKKa's Nightmare and by shock rock band Undercover Slut for their album Amerikkka Macht Frei.
The letters KKK have been inserted into several other words and names, to indicate similar perceived racism, oppression or corruption. Examples include:
- Republikkkan (U.S. Republican Party)[11]
- Demokkkrat (U.S. Democratic Party)
- KKKapitalism (capitalism)[12]
- KKKommunism (communism)[13]
- David DuKKKe (David Duke), racist, former Klan leader, and neo-Nazi[14]
Currency signs
The dollar sign ($) can be inserted in the place of the letter S, the euro sign (€) in place of e, the yen (¥) sign in place of Y, the won (₩) sign in place of W, or the pound (£) sign in place of L to indicate plutocracy, greed, corruption, or the perceived immoral, unethical, or pathological accumulation of money. For example:
- App£e (for Apple Inc.); see also Criticism of Apple Inc..
- Autism $peaks (for Autism Speaks))
- Bu$h (for George W. Bush, George Herbert Walker Bush, or any member of the Bush family)[15][16][17]
- Co$ or $cientology (for the Church of Scientology)[18]
- Die Antwoord member, ¥o-Landi Vi$er.
- Di$ney and Di$neyland[19] See Criticism_of_The_Walt_Disney_Company and Disneyland#Tickets
- E$$o (for Esso): Used by the UK-based Stop Esso campaign encouraging people to boycott Esso, in protest against Esso's opposition to the Kyoto Protocol.[20]
- Hill$ong (for Hillsong Church): Used by people against the Hillsong Church to state that they are only existent to take offerings to be used for workers' luxury rather than Christian-like charitable uses.
- kla$$ (for class): Used to draw attention to the belief that American citizens are widely and unfairly ranked solely on terms of their material wealth[8]
- Micro$oft, M$, M$FT (for Microsoft), as well as Micro$oft Windoze for Microsoft Windows[21]; see also Criticism of Microsoft
- Orac£e (for Oracle Corporation)
- Ro£€x (for Rolex)
- Ru$$ia (for Russia)[22]
- $ocialism (for Socialism): Critics have pointed out that the idea of socialism has been exploited for profit, by politicians, corporations and artists, in particular as a criticism of Michael Moore.[23][24]
- Uncle $am (for Uncle Sam)[25]
- United $tates, United $tate$, U$, U$A (for United States).[26]
- Wa$hington (for Washington).[27]
- ₩indo₩$ (for Microsoft Windows)[28]
- "Green Chri$tma$", a song by Stan Freberg, satirizing Commercialization of Christmas
- Ke$ha: Pop music artist. She adopted the dollar sign in her name while struggling to get by as an ironic gesture.[29]
- $ony (for Sony)[30]
O, A or other vowels
Typically names ending in O are the masculine equivalent of feminine names ending in A. But in other cases, there are different reasons for this. In other cases, o is in the middle of a word when the pronunciation of an ending "a" or hard-vowel U is in place of a hard or soft O sound.
- Californ-I/O', a nickname for the San Francisco Bay Area since places like San Jose have heavy computer industry in which I/O refers to the input/output mechanics of computers, and that California itself is also referred to as Californ-I-A with surf culture.
- Lots of names that end in "a" are simply feminine cognates of masculine names that end in "o", "e" or "us", which sometimes have Latin origins.
"@" replacing "A", "at", or "O"
Since at least 1980, people have used the "at sign" ("@") as a representation of the circled letter A. This has been extended to substituting it for the letter "A" as in the Crass fanzine Toxic Gr@fity[31]
It is often used to combine feminine and masculine words in Spanish in an attempt to form a gender neutral alternative. For example, Latin@ might be used in place of Latino/Latina.[32] This also occurs with the Pokémon Latias and Latios, which are referred to as a pair as Lati@s. Any word which indicates gender with "a" or "o" might unofficially use the @ sign to spell a "gender neutral" variation, as in l@s niñ@s.[32]
Word-in-word
Occasionally a word written in its orthodox spelling is altered with internal capital letters, hyphens, italics, or other devices so as to highlight a fortuitous pun. Some examples:
- After the controversial 2000 U.S. Presidential elections, the alleged improprieties of the election prompted the use of such titles as "pResident" and "(p)resident"[33][34] for George W. Bush. The same effects were also used for Bill Clinton during and after Clinton's impeachment hearings. These devices were intended to suggest that the president was merely the resident of the White House rather than the legitimate president of the US, though all US presidents in general were a "r"esident of the United States in the beginning.
- Similarly, the controversial United States law, the USA PATRIOT Act, is sometimes called the "patRiot Act", "(pat)Riot Act", "PAT Riot Act", "PAT RIOT Act", or "You Sap At Riot Act"[35][36] by its opponents.
- The perception that membership in the United Nations is counter to US interests and sovereignty is denoted by the terms "Un-ited Nations" or "EU-nited Nations" (similarity to EU - European Union). Similarly, the perception that the United Nations is ineffectual (castrated) is denoted by the term "EUN-ited Nations" (similarity to eunuch).
- Feminist theologian Mary Daly has used a slash to make a point about patriarchy: "gyn/ecology", "stag/nation", "the/rapist".[37]
- In French, where con is an insulting word meaning "moron", the word conservateur (conservative) has been written "con-servateur",[38] "con… servateur",[39] or "con(servateur)".[40] The American English term neo-con, an abbreviation of neo-conservative, becomes a convenient pun when used in French.[41] In English, the first syllable of conservative can be emphasized to suggest a con artist.[42]
- Animated gears are superimposed over a cartoon brain to imply "cog"nitive reflexes.
- The British political satire magazine Private Eye has a long standing theme of insulting the law firm Carter-Ruck by replacing the R with an F to read Carter-Fuck. The law firm once requested that Private Eye cease spelling its name like that; the magazine then started spelling it "Farter-Fuck".[43]
- (p)leather, though itself is not as pejorative as the other aforementioned examples here.
- C(h)itroen, a term used to insinuate that Citroen cars are "shit".
- WinDO(w)S and Windows N(O)T (DOS), just simply drop the w before the s, and its easy to extend MS-DOS both as a play on words and as a merger of operating system API. Versions of Microsoft Windows below 64-bit editions are generally compatible with MS-DOS applications, of which is why Windows 95 was a valid replacement to MS-DOS since it was a transitioning point between Windows as a "DOS-extender" and as an independent operating system albeit with MS-DOS as a "bootloader". But when Windows NT was introduced, it was the first version of Windows that could boot fully independent of a DOS kernel hence the hidden pun of "Windows N(O)T DOS", but it would be some years before Windows XP would finally close the gap between Windows NT, and "consumer Windows".
- (un)fair warning, a warning that is meant to make the ultimatum less unfair can sometimes backfire with a reaction that defeats the warning.
- Dodge Rampage, a Dodge vehicle from the early 80s made to resemble car-profile pickup trucks such as the Chevrolet El Camino, and used a compound word to roughly extend on the concept of collectively using "Dodge Ram" on any Dodge vehicle that was a "truck" during that era, many years prior to when Ram Trucks finally became its own brand, rather than a "sub-brand" like it was at that time.
- Netizens often called Sen. Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. as "MandaramBONG" (Filipino word for plunderer) for denying allegations of pocketing pork barrel funds through the use of fake non-government organizations linked to pork scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles.[44] Later in 6 months, after his speech "Salamat, Kaibigan" delivered, many Twitter users tweeted a hash-tag "#BongPanes" as a negative reaction of the speech, as well as his music within the same title.[45][46]
Some instances of multiple capital letters seem to fit in to other words that imply a similar meaning to it:
- FluXLand, a sports music classic featured on many sports music compilation albums, of which the song "Fluxland" is by a group called "XL", in which is a remix of a song whose artist is the same as the title.
- frEQency, typically frequencies are filtered out when EQualization is adjusted.
- STrong, when FM radio is in STereo, typically the LED that indicates it also implies that the station comes in STrong.
Other significant respellings
Along the same lines, intentional misspellings can be used to promote a specific negative attribute, real or perceived, of a product or service. This is especially effective if the misspelling is done by replacing part of the word with another that has identical phonetic qualities.
Some place names are also spelled differently in order to emphasize some political view. For instance, Brasil (the Portuguese spelling of "Brazil"), is sometimes misconstrued as a typo for Brazil in English texts.[47] Alternatively, the English spelling Brazil is used in Portuguese pieces of text as a way to denote Anti-Americanism or Anti-globalization sentiment.
Journalists may make a politicized editorial decision by choosing to differentially retain (or even create) misspellings, mispronunciations, ungrammaticisms, dialect variants, or interjections.
Backronyms
Plays on acronyms are also common, when the full name that the acronym in question stands for is spelled out but one of the words in that above full name is replaced by another word highlighting a controversial aspect of what said acronym is about. For example, Richard Stallman and other FSF executives often refer to DRM as 'digital restrictions management",[48] a reference to the tendency for DRM to stifle the end user's ability to reshare music or write CDs more than a certain number of times. Likewise, the NSA is often referred to as the "National Surveillance Agency" [49][50][51][52] by opponents of its PRISM program, who view it as dystopian encroachment on personal privacy.
See also
- Eye dialect
- Herstory
- Leet
- Play on words
- Pun
- Sensational spelling
- Womyn
References
- ↑ "CACC NEWSLETTER". schwarzreport.org. Archived from the original on January 23, 2008.
- ↑ "A Call to Arms (1969?) - Hippy Land, Home of the Hippies". hippy.com.
- ↑ "Internet Archive Wayback Machine". riseup.net. Archived from the original on March 17, 2006.
- ↑ http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/exhibits/sixties/radical.html
- ↑ "Jerry Rubin: SelfPortrait of a Child of "Amerika," 1970". american.edu.
- ↑ "Nachrichten aus der Musik- und Entertainmentbranche - Jasonalexandercruz.com". jasonalexandercruz.com.
- ↑ "political". Flickr.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1
- ↑ comunidades.calle22.com - TODOS SOMOS OKUPAS at the Wayback Machine (archived June 11, 2008)
- ↑ Rodríguez González, Félix (2006). "Medios de comunicación y contracultura juvenil" (PDF). Círculo. 25:5–30.
- ↑ The Blackstripe - Stolen 2000 Election at the Wayback Machine (archived February 25, 2006)
- ↑ From Critical Reflections to Forward Progression at the Wayback Machine (archived November 4, 2005)
- ↑ frankvonqueens (2008-08-22). "Kommunism is Apartheid!". The Right Perspective. Peter Goodman. Retrieved 2012-11-28.
- ↑ https://books.google.com/books?id=bdGSbDaCQVsC&pg=PA315&lpg=PA315&dq=David+DuKKKe&source=bl&ots=Q5eTcluJHS&sig=HiYjVBlhRX3vqoPwxqGTel6rHag&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Is75VN3SDoGBgwT0oYHoAw&ved=0CDoQ6AEwBTgK#v=onepage&q=David%20DuKKKe&f=false
- ↑ "«Stoppez Bu$h". Le Devoir.
- ↑ "Caught in the Crossfire: What Will Bu$h Do About Corporate Corruption?". Archive.democrats.com. June 28, 2002.
- ↑ "UK Indymedia - Stop Bu$h - National Demonstration - Thursday 20th". Indymedia.org.uk. November 20, 2003.
- ↑ The $cientology Cartoon Page at the Wayback Machine (archived March 2, 2007)
- ↑ http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/opinion/forum/x945007808/Di-neyland-ought-to-give-kids-a-break
- ↑ "Interview with a Stop Esso activist". Greenpeace. November 29, 2001. Retrieved December 28, 2014.
- ↑ David Madore. "A plea against Micro$oft". madore.org.
- ↑ "Olekh G. L. Novosibirsk Oblast: Problems of Globalization and Regionalization. На пороге будущего… "Сибирская Заимка" —история Сибири в научных публикациях". Zaimka.ru.
- ↑
- ↑
- ↑ "Country Joe McDonald, All the Fixin's". Countryjoe.com.
- ↑ American Gulag - Dismantle the Prison-Industrial Complex at the Wayback Machine (archived December 23, 2004)
- ↑ MIM Notes - Bush signs $190 billion farm billopposing `free trade' at the Wayback Machine (archived January 23, 2008)
- ↑ "View Single Post - The All New Linux vs Windows MegaSuperThread". LinuxQuestions.org. September 24, 2010.
- ↑ "View Single Post - Pop sensation Ke$ha gutsy, fearless". jam.canoe.ca. January 19, 2010.
- ↑ "Urban Dictionary: $ony". Urban Dictionary.
- ↑
- ↑ 32.0 32.1 "DICCIONARIO PANHISPÁNICO DE DUDAS - GÉNERO 2.2". Real Academia Española. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ↑ "Name the President!". March 18, 2006. Archived from the original on March 18, 2006.
- ↑ "Internet Archive Wayback Machine". Web.archive.org. May 14, 2008.
- ↑ "PAT RIOT Act - Richard Stallman". Stallman.org.
- ↑ "Slashdot Comments | British Columbia Acts Against Patriot Act". Yro.slashdot.org. July 25, 2004.
- ↑
- ↑ "Elections Québec '98". June 11, 2008. Archived from the original on June 11, 2008.
- ↑ "cri". Chantiers.org.
- ↑ "France-Mail-Forum Nr. 31: Politique et histoire". June 11, 2008. Archived from the original on June 11, 2008.
- ↑ "Les deux vies de " Wolfie ", le " néo-con " au " coeur qui saigne". LeMonde.fr.
- ↑ AUTHOR: Jane Kleeb (July 2, 2010). ""Con"servative Bait and Switch". Boldnebraska.org. Retrieved 2012-04-30.
- ↑ "Peter Carter-Ruck". The Daily Telegraph. London. 22 December 2003. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
- ↑ "'MandaramBong': Netizens twit Revilla speech". ABS-CBN News.
- ↑ http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/06/09/14/bongpanes-reactions-bong-revillas-music-video
- ↑ "Netizens coin #BongPanes after Revilla speech". solarnews.ph.
- ↑ http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/brasil
- ↑ Digital rights management#Opposition to DRM
- ↑ "National 'Surveillance' Agency? Audit reveals NSA violations". Fox News.
- ↑ "National Surveillance Agency: Looking At Google Glass, Xbox One Through The NSA's Prism [OPINION]". iDigitalTimes.com. June 14, 2013.
- ↑ "National Surveillance Agency: Looking At Google Glass, Xbox One Through The NSA's Prism". n4g.com.
- ↑ Catholic Online. "National Surveillance Agency program is still ongoing". catholic.org.
External links
- On de spelling and use of various words by Mangwiro A. Sadiki-Yisrael