kwik, serv, kleen, EZ, FasTrak, thru, etc.
There are certain words in certain contexts that Americans purposefully misspell in a way that is half ingratiating, half condescending. I am not talking about txting where the purpose of the misspelling is to economize on characters. Instead these words are usually associated with low-end commercial products and the misspellings predate the internet.
Here’s what you get when you search google maps for the word “kwik” (and you happen to be in Stony Brook, NY.) My favorite: Kwik Ezee.
It has always fascinated me. There seems to be a common theme. It is not a movement toward phonetic spelling. Is it an attempt to be kool? Is it a way of saying “Come to KwikiMart and get your Cheezits. And don’t worry we won’t judge you for it, hey, we can’t even spell!!” The letter k apparently has a special attraction.
Sandeep says that this doesn’t happen in Britain and I believe him, but here is a google maps search that says otherwise.
Does this happen in your language? Is your language phonetically challenged like English? What’s your theory of kwaint misspellings? Any good examples (English or otherwise)?
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July 14, 2009 at 7:54 am
pigfat
I think human brain is always looking for novelties and varieties. There is nothing worse than being bored.
July 14, 2009 at 11:58 am
kevindick
Of course, it could just be our trademark laws. It’s very hard to trademark a common English word (without adding a graphical element). A misspelled word is easier. So perhaps this is just a perfectly rational response to the incentives.
July 14, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Heng
here is an example that all chinese are familiar with…
River crab (simplified Chinese: 河蟹; pinyin: héxiè), as an internet slang created by netizens in Mainland China, is a reference to Internet censorship in the People’s Republic of China. The word river crab sounds similar to the word harmonious (simplified Chinese: 和谐; pinyin: héxié) in Chinese Mandarin. The three wristwatches refer to the Three Represents, where the Mandarin expressions used for “represent” (Chinese: 代表; pinyin: dài biǎo) and “to wear a watch” (Chinese: 戴表; pinyin: dài biǎo) are homophones.
Because the Chinese Communist Party announced the goal of constructing a “Harmonious Society” (simplified Chinese: 和谐社会) in 2004 and the government of Mainland China usually cites this as the reason for censorship, Chinese netizens began to use the word “harmonious” as a euphemism for censorship, when the word for censorship was censored. And when the word harmonious began to be censored, Chinese netizens began to use the word “river crab”. Sometimes aquatic product (simplified Chinese: 水产) is used in place of “river crab”.
It is also used as a verb, for example, instead of saying something has been censored, one might say “it has been harmonized” (simplified Chinese: 被和谐了) or “it has been river-crabbed” (simplified Chinese: 被河蟹了).
In some BBS’s, “harmonious” is a censored word, so netizens use “river crab” instead.
In Taiwan, more and more people know about the meaning of river crab as an internet slang. Some people dislike the government of Mainland China, and may refer to it as “blood-drinking”, a near homophone of “harmonious” (simplified Chinese: 喝血; pinyin: hēxuě; taiwan reading: hēxiě).
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