"Amerika"

[Fred Shapiro]

In today's N.Y. Times "On Language" column, William Safire derives the
satirical spelling _Amerika_ from the K in Ku Klux Klan.  While that
derivation is obviously true of the spelling _Amerikkka_, I always thought
that _Amerika_ derived from the German spelling and probably was
specifically inspired by a Kafka book title.

Fred Shapiro


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Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Collections and     YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS
   Access and Lecturer in Legal Research     Yale University Press
Yale Law School                             ISBN 0300107986
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
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