# Spelling America "Amerika" makes you look like a jakkass. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 6, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-america-amerika-makes-you-look-like-a-jakkass/502139 "2009-07-06T23:32:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-america-amerika-makes-you-look-like-a-jakkass/502139/121 "2009-07-11T00:37:04Z")
Bug, you are cracking me up. I mean that in the good way. Like you are actually funny. But for the record, I guess I should restate something. I do not use the ‘Amerika’ or ‘womynn’ spelling or whatever. I am only stating that I see how their strategy can be effective. So while I am probably a lefty blockhead, it is not because I think we should spell America with a K. ---
**Author:** ![BugMeNot2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e5b9ba/32.png) [@BugMeNot2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BugMeNot2)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-america-amerika-makes-you-look-like-a-jakkass/502139/122 "2009-07-11T03:15:35Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Bug, you are cracking me up. I mean that in the good way. Like you are actually funny. Hey, man, I’m all about trying to brighten people’s days. If I succeed a bit, I’m happy. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-america-amerika-makes-you-look-like-a-jakkass/502139/123 "2009-07-11T04:33:08Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > I hate references to the “men and women” in our armed forces, for example. It’s become so overused that it sounds now like one word: mennenwomen. What’s wrong with just “people”? The people in our armed forces. Hey **Lib**! Over [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11328988#post11328988). ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-america-amerika-makes-you-look-like-a-jakkass/502139/124 "2009-07-15T06:59:26Z")
It’s actually a tip to Rare’s DKC series. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-america-amerika-makes-you-look-like-a-jakkass/502139/125 "2009-07-15T07:06:29Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > Unless you are referring to the town in the Netherlands, the song by Rammstein, the book by Franz Kafka or the 1987 miniseries staring Kriss Kristofferson, the intentional misspelling with a “k” makes you look like a jakkass. Why does it change with the song by Rammstein? They are spelling it that way for the same jackass reason anyone else does. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-america-amerika-makes-you-look-like-a-jakkass/502139/126 "2009-07-15T07:21:09Z")
> [@mswas](#): > > Why does it change with the song by Rammstein? They are spelling it that way for the same jackass reason anyone else does. Oh? I’d always assumed that was the German spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-america-amerika-makes-you-look-like-a-jakkass/502139/127 "2009-07-15T08:20:07Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Oh? I’d always assumed that was the German spelling. Which I’ll note that Google translator confirms. It’s spelled Amerika in German as best I can tell. If jackassery was intended, it seems a damned subtle way to accomplish it. ---
**Author:** ![Sofis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Sofis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofis)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-america-amerika-makes-you-look-like-a-jakkass/502139/128 "2009-07-15T09:22:04Z")
It is also the Swedish, Dutch, Danish and Norwegian spelling. The Finnish spelling, I might add, is Amerikka, which I suppose makes them twice the jackasses the rest of us are. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-america-amerika-makes-you-look-like-a-jakkass/502139/129 "2009-07-15T14:57:49Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Oh? I’d always assumed that was the German spelling. It is. The song is a criticism of American cultural hegemony, but I don’t think that means they used that spelling for any other reason than it’s how you spell it in German. The song isn’t about Americans being Nazi- or Communist-like, just about how coca-colonization sucks. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-america-amerika-makes-you-look-like-a-jakkass/502139/130 "2009-07-15T15:06:40Z")
Ahh fair enough. Generally the spelling of Amerika is used by people bitching about America’s foreign policy. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-america-amerika-makes-you-look-like-a-jakkass/502139/131 "2009-07-15T15:09:45Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Which I’ll note that Google translator confirms. It’s spelled Amerika in German as best I can tell. If jackassery was intended, it seems a damned subtle way to accomplish it. Never underestimate the subtlety of the Germans, they’re right there with an ironic innuendo or an armored division. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-america-amerika-makes-you-look-like-a-jakkass/502139/132 "2009-07-15T15:15:38Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > Never underestimate the subtlety of the Germans, they’re right there with an ironic innuendo or an armored division. I don’t know if subtley clever is something I would attribute to Rammstein. They put on a great live show and have some entertaining songs, but they aren’t terribly clever. When I met them the first time they came to America, the keyboardist road the lead singer around the bar like a pony, it was after 6 AM and the packed club had emptied and they were the headliner and performed for a handful of people. My friend who was a bartender at the club was studying to be an EMT and asked to look at the cuts where a flourescent lightbulb had been broken across his chest. He told her that if she wanted to help she could suck his dick. Yes, a vision of sublety that one. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-america-amerika-makes-you-look-like-a-jakkass/502139/133 "2009-07-15T15:20:53Z")
Well, did she? ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2009, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-america-amerika-makes-you-look-like-a-jakkass/502139/134 "2009-07-15T15:35:00Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Well, did she? No [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spelling-america-amerika-makes-you-look-like-a-jakkass/502139.md?page=6)