"Amerika"

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM
Sun May 20 16:50:33 UTC 2007


Memory tells me that in 1970 (the time of the Cambodian operations and Kent State), my classmates associated the "k"  with Germany and Nazis, not with Kafka.

  JL

Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Dave Wilton
Subject: Re: "Amerika"
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I would agree. I think that "Amerika" is more inspired by the German
spelling and is an evocation of fascism--and I don't think the 1927 Kafka
novel is especially relevant. (I haven't read it, but my understanding is
that it is not about totalitarianism, rather about a European youth's
travels in the US.)

But I also think you're taking Safire out of context. He is specifically
referring to the spelling in a Hip Hop context. In the midst of several
paragraphs about African American language, Safire writes:

"Back in the day, the substitution of k for c in the word America - writing
it as Amerika or Amerikkka - was a coded evocation of the Ku Klux Klan.
Hip-hop style today deliberately defies spelling rules, especially ingrained
irregularities."

In this narrower context, he may be correct in thinking that the Klan is the
more proximate inspiration.


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Wilson Gray
Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2007 7:34 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "Amerika"

I don't know - in the literal sense; I'm not trying to say politely
that you're wrong - about Kafka being the ultimate origin, but I
agree, otherwise.

-Wilson

On 5/20/07, Fred Shapiro wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
-----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Fred Shapiro
> Subject: "Amerika"
>
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---
>
> 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
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 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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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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