"Amerika"

[Charles Doyle]

There is a folk belief encountered among black Americans and others that Ku Klux Klan "front" companies, in the South and elsewhere, announce their identity to savy consumers--who are ever eager to abet and enrich Klansmen and their causes--by working K's into company names or logos. Such has been the suspicion regarding Krispy Kreme (a doughnut chain wildly popular in the South) as well as lesser enterprises that might, for example, spell "quick" as "kwik." Curiously, I have never heard the suspicion voiced about K-Mart.

This note does not explain the spelling "Amerika," but it may help explain the purported Klan association with the spelling.

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Sun, 20 May 2007 08:10:22 -0700
>From: Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET>
>Subject: Re: "Amerika"
>
>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 <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Fred Shapiro <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
>> Subject:      "Amerika"
>>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>---
>>
>> 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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