Alternative Political Spelling
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A satiric misspelling is an intentional
misspelling Spelling is a set of conventions for written language regarding how graphemes should correspond to the sounds of spoken language. Spelling is one of the elements of orthography, and highly standardized spelling is a prescriptive element. Spell ...
of a word,
phrase In grammar, a phrasecalled expression in some contextsis a group of words or singular word acting as a grammatical unit. For instance, the English language, English expression "the very happy squirrel" is a noun phrase which contains the adject ...
or name for a
rhetoric Rhetoric is the art of persuasion. It is one of the three ancient arts of discourse ( trivium) along with grammar and logic/ dialectic. As an academic discipline within the humanities, rhetoric aims to study the techniques that speakers or w ...
al purpose. This can be achieved with intentional
malapropism A malapropism (; also called a malaprop, acyrologia or Dogberryism) is the incorrect use of a word in place of a word with a similar sound, either unintentionally or for comedic effect, resulting in a nonsensical, often humorous utterance. An exam ...
(e.g. replacing ''erection'' for ''election''),
enallage Enallage (; , ''enallagḗ'', "interchange") is one type of scheme of rhetorical figures of speech which is used to refer to the use of tense, form, or person for a grammatically incorrect counterpart.Silva Rhetoricae (2006)Enallage Form One us ...
(giving a sentence the wrong form, eg. "we was robbed!"), or simply replacing a letter with another letter (for example, in English, '' k'' replacing '' c''), or
symbol A symbol is a mark, Sign (semiotics), sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, physical object, object, or wikt:relationship, relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by cr ...
('' $'' replacing '' s'').
Satiric Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of exposing or ...
misspelling is found widely today in informal writing on the Internet, but is also made in some serious political writing that opposes the
status quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, economic, legal, environmental, political, religious, scientific or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the curren ...
.


''K'' replacing ''c''


In political writing

Replacing the letter ''c'' with ''k'' in the first letter of a word was used by the
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...
during its early years in the mid-to-late 19th century. The concept is continued today within the group. For something similar in the writing of groups opposed to the KKK, see , below. In the 1960s and early 1970s in the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
, the
Yippies The Youth International Party (YIP), whose members were commonly called Yippies, was an American youth-oriented Radical politics, radical and Counterculture, countercultural revolutionary offshoot of the Free Speech Movement, free speech and an ...
sometimes used ''Amerika'' rather than ''America'' in referring to the United States. According to ''
Oxford Dictionaries Oxford dictionary may refer to any dictionary published by Oxford University Press, particularly: Historical dictionaries * ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') * ''Shorter Oxford English Dictionary'', an abridgement of the ''OED'' Single-volu ...
'', it was an allusion to the
Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...
and
German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
spellings of the word and intended to be suggestive of
fascism Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hie ...
and
authoritarianism Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political ''status quo'', and reductions in democracy, separation of powers, civil liberties, and ...
. A similar usage in
Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
,
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...
, Catalan and
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
is to write ''okupa'' rather than ''ocupa'' (often on a building or area occupied by
squatter Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not Land ownership and tenure, own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estima ...
s), referring to the name adopted by ''okupación'' activist groups. It stems from a combination of English borrowings with k in them to those languages, and
Spanish anarchist Anarchism in Spain has historically gained some support and influence, especially before Francisco Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939, when it played an active political role and is considered the end of the golden age of c ...
and
punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
movements which used "k" to signal rebellion.


In humor

Replacing "c" with "k" was at the center of a
Monty Python Monty Python, also known as the Pythons, were a British comedy troupe formed in 1969 consisting of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The group came to prominence for the sketch comedy ser ...
joke from the Travel Agent sketch.
Eric Idle Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, songwriter, musician, screenwriter and playwright. He was a member of the British comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band the Rutles. Idle studied English at Pembroke Co ...
's character has an affliction that makes him pronounce the letter C as a B, as in "blassified" instead of "classified".
Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knig ...
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, you mean, pronounce 'blassified' with a K? ..Klassified. ..Oh, it's very good! I never thought of that before! What a silly
bunt Bunt may refer to: People * Darrell Bunt (1902–1977), Royal Navy chaplain * Dick Bunt (1929–2021), American basketball player * Raymond Bunt (born 1944), Pennsylvania politician * Bunt Stephens (John L. Stephens, 1889–1951), or Uncle Bunt ...
!"


''KKK'' replacing ''c'' or ''k''

A common satiric usage of the letters ''KKK'' is the spelling of ''America'' as ''Amerikkka'' (or ''AmeriKKKa''), alluding to the
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...
, referring to underlying
racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...
in American society. The earliest known usage of ''Amerikkka'' recorded in the ''
Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...
'' is in July 1970, in an African-American magazine called '' Black World''. The spelling ''Amerikkka'' came into greater use after the 1990 release of the
gangsta rap Gangsta rap or gangster rap, initially called reality rap, is a subgenre of rap music that conveys the culture, values, and experiences of urban gangs and street hustlers, frequently discussing unpleasant realities of the world in general th ...
album ''
AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted ''AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted'' is the debut studio album by American rapper Ice Cube, released on May 16, 1990, by Priority Records. It was his first solo album, after an acrimonious split from his former group N.W.A. Primarily produced by Public ...
'' by
Ice Cube O'Shea Jackson Sr. (born June 15, 1969), known professionally as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1989 album '' Straight Outta Compton'' contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popu ...
. 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 The Republican Party, also known as the Grand Old Party (GOP), is a right-wing political party in the United States. One of the two major parties, it emerged as the main rival of the then-dominant Democratic Party in the 1850s, and the tw ...
) * ''Demokkkrat'' (
U.S. Democratic Party The Democratic Party is a center-left political party in the United States. One of the major parties of the U.S., it was founded in 1828, making it the world's oldest active political party. Its main rival since the 1850s has been the Re ...
) * ''KKKapitalism'' (
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...
) * ''David DuKKKe'' (
David Duke David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American politician, neo-Nazi, conspiracy theorist, and former grand wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for the ...
), former
Grand Wizard The grand wizard (sometimes called the imperial wizard or national director) is the national leader of several different Ku Klux Klan organizations in the United States and abroad. The title "Grand Wizard" was used by the first Klan which was fo ...
of the
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to KKK or Klan, is an American Protestant-led Christian terrorism, Christian extremist, white supremacist, Right-wing terrorism, far-right hate group. It was founded in 1865 during Reconstruction era, ...
, candidate for
United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...
, candidate for
Governor of Louisiana The governor of Louisiana (; ) is the chief executive of the U.S. state government of Louisiana. The governor also serves as the commander in chief of the Louisiana National Guard. Republican Jeff Landry has held the office since January 8, ...
, and antisemitic conspiracy theorist


Other uses

American rapper
Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...
used the spelling "Amerikaz" for "America's" in his song titled "
2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted "2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted" is a song by American rapper 2Pac from his fourth studio album, '' All Eyez on Me'' (1996). The song features fellow West Coast rapper Snoop Doggy Dogg and was produced by Dat Nigga Daz. The song was released as a p ...
" featuring
Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...
, released in 1996 as part of his album '' All Eyez On Me'' (which includes another satirical misspelling, the use of "eyez" instead of "eyes").


Currency signs

Currency symbol A currency symbol or currency sign is a graphic symbol used to denote a currency unit. Usually it is defined by a monetary authority, such as the national central bank for the currency concerned. A symbol may be positioned in various ways, acc ...
s like €, $ and £ can be inserted in place of the letters ''E'', ''S'' and ''L'' respectively to indicate
plutocracy A plutocracy () or plutarchy is a society that is ruled or controlled by people of great wealth or income. The first known use of the term in English dates from 1631. Unlike most political systems, plutocracy is not rooted in any established ...
,
greed Greed (or avarice, ) is an insatiable desire for material gain (be it food, money, land, or animate/inanimate possessions) or social value, such as status or power. Nature of greed The initial motivation for (or purpose of) greed and a ...
,
corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...
, or the perceived immoral, unethical, or pathological accumulation of
money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: m ...
. For example: * ''Bu$h'' (for
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
,
George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...
, or the
Bush family The Bush family is an American political family that has played a prominent role in American politics since the 1950s, foremost as the first family of the United States from 1989 to 1993 and again from 2001 to 2009, during the respective preside ...
) * Congre$$ (for
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
) * ''Co$'' or ''$cientology'' (for the
Church of Scientology The Church of Scientology is a group of interconnected corporate entities and other organizations devoted to the practice, administration and dissemination of Scientology, which is variously defined as a cult, a business, or a new religiou ...
): see also
Scientology controversies Since its inception in 1954, the Church of Scientology has been involved in a number of controversies, including its stance on psychiatry, Scientology's legitimacy as a religion, the Church's aggressive attitude in dealing with its perceived en ...
. * ''Di$ney'' and ''Di$neyland'' (for
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
and
Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California. It was the first theme park opened by the Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney, ...
): see also Criticism of the Walt Disney Company and Disneyland § Tickets * ''E$$o'' (for
Esso Esso () is a trading name for ExxonMobil. Originally, the name was primarily used by its predecessor Standard Oil of New Jersey after the breakup of the original Standard Oil company in 1911. The company adopted the name "Esso" (from the phon ...
): Used by the UK-based
Stop Esso campaign The Stop Esso campaign was a campaign by Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and People and Planet aimed at boycotting the oil company ExxonMobil (which owns and operates the brand Esso), on the grounds that it is damaging the environment. The ca ...
encouraging people to
boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...
Esso, in protest against Esso's opposition to the
Kyoto Protocol The was an international treaty which extended the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that commits state parties to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, based on the scientific consensus that global warming is oc ...
. * ''€urope'' (for
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
) *
Ke$ha Kesha Rose Sebert (born March 1, 1987), formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. Her first major success came in 2009 when she was featured on rapper Flo Rida's number-one single, "Right Round". Kesha's music and ima ...
(singer-songwriter): adopted the dollar sign in her name while financially struggling as an ironic gesture. *''Micro$oft'', ''M$'', ''M$FT'' (for
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
): see also
Criticism of Microsoft Microsoft has been criticized for various aspects of its products and business practices. Issues with ease of use, robustness, and security of the company's software are common targets for critics. In the 2000s, a number of malware mishaps targe ...
* ''$ony'' (for
Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...
) *''United $tates'', ''U$'', ''U$A'' (for the
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
) *''£$€'' for the
London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...


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 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 7, 2000. Republican Party (United States), Republican Governor George W. Bush of Texas, the eldest son of 41st President George H. W. Bush, ...
, the alleged improprieties of the election prompted the use of such titles as "pResident" and "(p)resident" for
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
. The same effects were also used for
Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...
during and after Clinton's impeachment hearings. These devices were intended to suggest that the president was merely the ''resident'' of the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...
rather than the legitimate leader. * The controversial
United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
law '' USA PATRIOT Act'' is sometimes called "USA PAT RIOT Act" or "(Pat)Riot Act" by its opponents. This is done to avoid using the common term ''Patriot Act'', which implies the law is patriotic. * Feminist theologian
Mary Daly Mary Daly (October 16, 1928 – January 3, 2010) was an American radical feminist philosopher and theologian. Daly, who described herself as a "radical lesbian feminist", taught at the Jesuit-run Boston College for 33 years. Once a practicing ...
has used a
slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash th ...
to make a point about
patriarchy Patriarchy is a social system in which positions of authority are primarily held by men. The term ''patriarchy'' is used both in anthropology to describe a family or clan controlled by the father or eldest male or group of males, and in fem ...
: "gyn/ecology", "stag/nation", "the/rapist". * In French, where ''con'' is an insulting word meaning "moron", the word ''conservateur'' (conservative) has been written "con-servateur", "con... servateur", or "con(servateur)". The American English term ''neo-con'', an abbreviation of ''
neo-conservative Neoconservatism (colloquially neocon) is a political movement which began in the United States during the 1960s among liberal hawks who became disenchanted with the increasingly pacifist Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party alo ...
'', becomes a convenient pun when used in French. In English, the first syllable of ''con''servative can be emphasized to suggest a
con artist A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibi ...
. * Filipino netizens gave Senator Ramon "Bong" Revilla Jr. the derisive nickname "''MandaramBONG''" (Filipino word for
plunder Looting is the act of stealing, or the taking of goods by force, typically in the midst of a military, political, or other social crisis, such as war, natural disasters (where law and civil enforcement are temporarily ineffective), or rioting. ...
er) to highlight allegations that he pocketed
pork barrel ''Pork barrel'', or simply ''pork'', is a metaphor for allocating government spending to localized projects in the representative's district or for securing direct expenditures primarily serving the sole interests of the representative. The u ...
funds through the use of
fake Fake or fakes may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * The Fake (1927 film), ''The Fake'' (1927 film), a silent British drama film * The Fake (1953 film), ''The Fake'' (1953 film), a British film * Fake (2003 film), ''Fake'' (20 ...
non-government organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...
s. *
Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and former military officer who served as the 38th president of Brazil from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as a member of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies (Brazil), Chamb ...
has been called Bolso
Nero Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus ( ; born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus; 15 December AD 37 – 9 June AD 68) was a Roman emperor and the final emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty, reigning from AD 54 until his ...
, due to the
2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires The 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires season saw a year-to-year surge in fires occurring in the Amazon rainforest and Amazon biome within Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru during that year's Amazonian tropical dry season. Fires normally occur ...
and indifference to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.


In internet memes


Lolcats

In the mid-2000s,
lolcat A lolcat (pronounced ), or LOLcat, is an image macro of one or more cats. Lolcat images' Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and intentionally grammatically incorrect text is known as lolspeak. Lolcat is a Compound (linguistics), compound word of the ...
image macros were captioned with deliberate misspellings, known as "lolspeak", such as a cat asking "I can haz cheezburger?" Blogger
Anil Dash Anil Dash (; born September 5, 1975) is an American technology executive, entrepreneur, Prince scholar and writer. He is the Head of Glitch and VP of Developer Experience at Fastly. Career In 1999, Dash launched his personal weblog, dashes.com ( ...
described the intentionally poor spelling and fractured grammar as "kitty
pidgin A pidgin , or pidgin language, is a grammatically simplified form of contact language that develops between two or more groups of people that do not have a language in common: typically, its vocabulary and grammar are limited and often drawn f ...
".


"B" emoji replacing hard consonants

The negative squared letter B (🅱️; originally used to represent
blood type A blood type (also known as a blood group) is based on the presence and absence of antibody, antibodies and Heredity, inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells (RBCs). These antigens may be proteins, carbohydrates, glycop ...
B) can be used to replace hard
consonant In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract, except for the h sound, which is pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Examples are and pronou ...
s as an
internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...
. This originates from the practice of members of the
Bloods The Bloods are a primarily African Americans, African American street gang which was founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for Crips–Bloods gang war, its rivalry with the Crips. It is identified by the red color worn ...
replacing the letter ''C'' with the letter ''B'', but has been extended to any consonant. Common examples are: * Ni🅱️🅱️a, replacing ''
nigga ''Nigga'' (), also known as "''the N-word''", is a colloquial term in African-American Vernacular English that is considered as a vulgar word in most contexts of its use. It began as a dialect form of the word ''nigger'', an ethnic slur agai ...
''. Some non-
black people Black is a racial classification of people, usually a political and skin color-based category for specific populations with a mid- to dark brown complexion. Not all people considered "black" have dark skin and often additional phenotypical ...
have been criticised for using this as if the taboo around the word did not apply. *🅱️loods for
Bloods The Bloods are a primarily African Americans, African American street gang which was founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for Crips–Bloods gang war, its rivalry with the Crips. It is identified by the red color worn ...
. *🅱️eter for
Peter Griffin Peter Löwenbräu Griffin Sr. ( né Justin Peter Griffin) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the American animated sitcom ''Family Guy''. He is voiced by the series' creator, Seth MacFarlane, and first appeared on television, a ...
. Extended usage of the emoji has led to developments in how it can be used. In contemporary usage (post-2017), the B emoji can replace any consonant that starts a word, or any plosive consonant (b, p, t, d, g, k) in the beginning of the stressed syllable. Evidence from Twitter (now X) confirms this, such as the following example: * 🅱️hanks🅱️iving 🅱️inner 🅱️outta 🅱️e 🅱️anging with the 🅱️urkey and 🅱️ravy and 🅱️ashed 🅱️o🅱️atoes.


Misspelled animal names

Various different instances of intentional misspellings of animal names have been made as
internet meme An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...
s. The mid-2000s
lolcat A lolcat (pronounced ), or LOLcat, is an image macro of one or more cats. Lolcat images' Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic and intentionally grammatically incorrect text is known as lolspeak. Lolcat is a Compound (linguistics), compound word of the ...
memes used spellings such as ''kitteh'' for kitty. The internet slang of
DoggoLingo DoggoLingo is an Internet language that is created from word conversion, meme lexicon, and onomatopoeia. Emerging in the 2010s, DoggoLingo is implied to be a dog's own idiom, and is presented as a canine's thought process. Elyse Graham, assis ...
, which appeared around the same time, spells dog as ''doggo'' and also includes respelled words for ''
puppy A puppy is a Juvenile (organism), juvenile dog, generally one less than 12-18 months old. Puppies are markedly underdeveloped and dependent on their mothers at birth (displaying ''altriciality''), but healthy puppies grow quickly and begi ...
'' (''pupper'') and other animals such as ''
bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
'' (''birb'') and ''
snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...
'' (''snek''). Respellings in DoggoLingo usually alter the pronunciation of the word.


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. Journalists may make a politicized editorial decision by choosing to differentially retain (or even create) misspellings, mispronunciations, ungrammaticisms, dialect variants, or interjections. The British political satire magazine ''
Private Eye ''Private Eye'' is a British fortnightly satirical and current affairs (news format), current affairs news magazine, founded in 1961. It is published in London and has been edited by Ian Hislop since 1986. The publication is widely recognised ...
'' has a long-standing theme of insulting the law firm
Carter-Ruck Carter-Ruck is a British law firm founded by Peter Carter-Ruck. The firm specialises in libel, privacy, international law and commercial disputes. The leading legal directories (Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners) rank Carter-Ruck in the top ...
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". Likewise, ''Private Eye'' often refers to ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' as '' The Grauniad'', due to the newspaper's early reputation for typographical errors.


Backronyms

Plays on
acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...
s and
initialism An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial letter of each word in all caps wi ...
s are also common, when the full name is spelled out but one of the component words is replaced by another. For example,
Richard Stallman Richard Matthew Stallman ( ; born March 16, 1953), also known by his initials, rms, is an American free software movement activist and programmer. He campaigns for software to be distributed in such a manner that its users have the freedom to ...
and other
Free Software Foundation The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded by Richard Stallman on October 4, 1985. The organisation supports the free software movement, with the organization's preference for software being distributed ...
executives often refer to
digital rights management Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures, such as access control technologies, can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted works. DRM ...
as "digital ''restrictions'' management". 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
National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is an intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the director of national intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collection, and proces ...
is often referred to as the "National ''Surveillance'' Agency" and sometimes "
National Socialist Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During Hitler's rise to power, it was frequen ...
Agency" by opponents of its
PRISM PRISM is a code name for a program under which the United States National Security Agency (NSA) collects internet communications from various U.S. internet companies. The program is also known by the SIGAD . PRISM collects stored internet ...
program, who view it as dystopian encroachment on personal privacy.


See also

*
Cacography Cacography is bad spelling or bad handwriting. The term in the sense of "poor spelling, accentuation, and punctuation" is a semantic antonym to orthography, and in the sense of "poor handwriting" it is an etymological antonym to the word calligra ...
*
Eye dialect Eye dialect is a writer's use of deliberately nonstandard spelling either because they do not consider the standard spelling a good reflection of the pronunciation or because they are intending to portray vernacular, informal or low-status language ...
*
Herstory Herstory is a term for history written from a feminist perspective and emphasizing the role of women, or told from a woman's point of view. It originated as an alteration of the word "history", as part of a feminist critique of conventional his ...
*
Leet Leet (or "1337"), also known as eleet or leetspeak, or simply hacker speech, is a system of modified spellings used primarily on the Internet. It often uses character replacements in ways that play on the similarity of their glyphs via refle ...
*
Play on words Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, phone ...
*
Pun A pun, also known as a paronomasia in the context of linguistics, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from t ...
*
Sensational spelling Sensational spelling is the deliberate spelling of a word in a non-standard way for special effect. Branding Sensational spellings are common in advertising and product placement. In particular, brand names such as Krispy Kreme Doughnuts ('' ...
*
Womyn ''Womxn'' and ''womyn'' are alternative political spellings of the English word ''woman'', used by some feminists.D. Hatton"Womyn and the 'L': A Study of the Relationship between Communication Apprehension, Gender, and Bulletin Boards"< ...


References


External links


On de spelling and use of various words
by Mangwiro A. Sadiki-Yisrael {{DEFAULTSORT:Satiric Misspelling Nonstandard spelling Political communication Puns
Misspelling Spelling is a set of conventions for written language regarding how graphemes should correspond to the sounds of spoken language. Spelling is one of the elements of orthography, and highly standardized spelling is a prescriptive element. Spell ...