# What is this "flack" nonsese? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 30, 2000, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flack-nonsese/35106 "2000-09-30T03:28:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Gnobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a5b964/32.png) [@Gnobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gnobody)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flack-nonsese/35106/1 "2000-09-30T03:28:08Z")
I’ve been reading the Cecil archives for a few days now, and I’ve noticed a lot of people starting off their letters with “I get a lot of flack for this but…” I might be wrong here but I was always under the impression that this is a reference to “flak” or _flugabewehrkanone_(sp?) the German anti-aircraft guns used in WWII. This is only my best guess at an explanation, is there another etymology here? If I’m right, why haven’t these people been properly reprimanded for their spelling error? Does “flack” even mean anything? ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flack-nonsese/35106/2 "2000-09-30T03:36:33Z")
I think you’re right as to the origin. As to the spelling, this is from [http://www.m-w.com](http://www.m-w.com) : > [@](#): > > Main Entry: 2flack > variant of FLAK As in flak jacket - what you were saying. It’s just an alternate bastardized American spelling. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flack-nonsese/35106/3 "2000-09-30T03:51:20Z")
It’s still wrong, of course. Flak is received abuse. A flack administers abuse–going on the assumption that people generally don’t like receiving the hyped releases put out by advance men or press agents. (Meaning #1 for flack.) That’s OK, **Gnobody** , if you pay attention long enough, you’ll notice that a lot of arguments take a different _tact_ around here (although most of the arguments involve very little tact, even when they are changing course to try a new _tack_). In the spirit of fighting ignorance, we do need to bring this stuff up from time to time, but I wouldn’t get too upset about it: the language changes and misunderstandings are one engine that drives the change. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flack-nonsese/35106/4 "2000-09-30T03:53:14Z")
_And my sentences would be clearer if all the punctutation I typed would show up on the screen when I hit Submit._ ---
**Author:** ![TNTruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@TNTruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TNTruth)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flack-nonsese/35106/5 "2000-09-30T03:58:44Z")
Yes, Webster lists flack as a variant spelling of flak. But it also lists it as slang for a press agent. A flack was a PA before the Germans invented flak. There’s no good reason to confuse the two words by spelling them the same. BTW, Webster also lists flack as a verb meaning “to be a PA”, which could lead to a sentence like “Before the Agriculture Secretary cancelled the alternative fiber proposal, his flacks flacked the flax flacks before any flak arose.” ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flack-nonsese/35106/6 "2000-09-30T04:17:29Z")
WTF? ---
**Author:** ![TNTruth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@TNTruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TNTruth)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flack-nonsese/35106/7 "2000-09-30T04:35:21Z")
SK, Have you flack fax his flak attack. ---
**Author:** ![Joe\_Malik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@Joe\_Malik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joe_Malik)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flack-nonsese/35106/8 "2000-09-30T05:25:38Z")
Don’t forget Tom Wolfe’s classic essay Mau-Mauing the Flak Catchers ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flack-nonsese/35106/9 "2000-09-30T06:57:05Z")
Before UCLA football games, you can buy food in an area outside the Rose Bowl. However, you have to buy SCRIPT first. As for “flack”, that spelling is also a surname (e.g. Roberta Flack) so that may be a reason it’s made its way into our spelling. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flack-nonsese/35106/10 "2000-09-30T11:30:29Z")
“Flak” is what you take when you misspell “nonsense” in your post. ---
**Author:** ![waterj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/858c86/32.png) [@waterj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/waterj2)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flack-nonsese/35106/11 "2000-09-30T12:39:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BobT \* > **Before UCLA football games, you can buy food in an area outside the Rose Bowl. However, you have to buy SCRIPT first.** Does this have any relevance to anything in this thread? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flack-nonsese/35106/12 "2000-09-30T12:49:17Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by waterj2 \* > \*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > \*Originally posted by BobT \* > > **Before UCLA football games, you can buy food in an area outside the Rose Bowl. However, you have to buy SCRIPT first.** > > Does this have any relevance to anything in this thread? \*\* Perhaps the fact that the proper term is [‘Scrip’](http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=scrip). ---
**Author:** ![Kalahari\_Khala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c77e96/32.png) [@Kalahari\_Khala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalahari_Khala)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2000, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-flack-nonsese/35106/13 "2000-09-30T19:04:05Z")
Lots of German words get converted to Anglicised spellings. Same with French, Arabic, Russian, and Chinese words. And Greek and Latin and … It’s the nature of spelling. It’s not an English thing either. Germans and French are quite happy to respell English words. Why wouldn’t they?