Leigh Anne Jasheway wrote an article on humor for the February 2011 Writer’s Digest Magazine. In “Laughing Matters” she asserts words with the K sound are perceived as the funniest.
“The K Rule is a good convention for naming things and making word choices that will subconsciously or subtly amuse your readers.” said Jasheway.
She speculates this is because much of American humor has roots in Yiddish humor, a language which includes many guttural (includig K) sounds.
Below is a list of words with the “K” sound. I challenge you to write a passage using only these or similar words with the K sound to make you humor piece stand out. Can you think of any others to add to this list?
Bifurcate, Buccaneer, Canoodle, Cantankerous, Caterwaul, Cattywampus, Cheeky, Conniption, Coot, Doohickey, Eschew, Gunky, Kahuna, Katydid, Kerplunk, Kinkajou, Knickers, Lackadaisical, Manscape, Monkey, Persnickety, Scuttlebutt, Snarky, Spelunker, Sprocket, Squeegee, and Wonky.
Side note: A special thank-you to Lisa of Writing in the Buff for the “Sisters of the Quill” Award.
31 comments:
I've never heard this theory before but I must admit that words like sprocket are very funny and of course knickers is guaranteed to reduce a primary school class of kids into hysterics.
I've never heard this before but I'm going to keep it in mind for the future. Thanks!
Oh - Kay!
That is very interesting. I didnt know that. Thank you for this information. I may try and do a write on some of those words. .
Blessings
Interesting!
Must watch out for funny K words now!
The only other time I heard this theory was in an early episode of The Simpsons, so I didn't take it seriously. But it certainly works with place names: Kalamazoo, Keokuk, Cucamonga...
Great observation Nate! I guess that's why they have Krusty the Clown? Love the idea of places with K sounds!
Now that you point it out, K words are pretty funny. I never realized that American humor comes from Yiddish humor...interesting fact:) Great use of the letter for today! :)
Thanks for stopping by my blog yesterday. Great post, by the way. I'm a follower now and will be back often.
A very interesting theory. Thank you for sharing. :)
Oh no! My surname's got a K in it :(
Great post!
And my first name starts with a K .... Personally, I think this theory holds up, as I love the words Kerfuffle and Knobkerry, both of which make me laugh, for hitherto unexplained reasons!
Thanks for a fun post
All best
Karla
I write a weekly humor column. I'm going to throw in an extra dose of words with the "K" sound this week and see what happens.
Lucy
Karla - I like Kerfuffle. I'll have to use that one.
Lucy - best of luck on the column this week. Let us know how it goes.
Hey, thanks for stopping by my blog.
That is very interesting about the K. When I think about it my husband uses a lot of K words when he is trying to make people laugh.
Great post!
Great post, Sylvia. Writer's Digest Magazine had a small article about funny sounding words a couple of months ago, and they also made the point about the "k" sound. Thanks for dropping by my blog.
Believe it or not, "K" is one of my favorite letters. I love your word list! :-)
I love goofy sounding words myself, with or without that hard K sound. Great entry!
Another A-Z Challenger stopping by to visit. You can find me at:
The Frustrated Foodie
This was a really interesting post. I like the idea behind it. I will be looking for K's in the words of sentences that make me laugh.
Wonderful post! I personally love some of those words and use them whenever I can. :)
I did not know that! I will keep that little tidbit in my back pocket for future use.
I'd never heard this, but its very interesting. Great post. Good to get new info!
lol There's some funny words.
The cantakerous monkey buccaneer Cooter and his crazy snarky cohorts went spelunking in the Carlesbad Caverns. They went careening and kerplunked when the carabeener doohickey went wonky.
One clever, yet Lackadaisical kahuna used a sproket, some gunky knickers and a squeegee to correct it. Incredibly, they climbed back out with only one cadaver.
Thus, they continued to cavort about courageously. They later canoed about, followed by cautiously canoolding in the candle-light at dusk.
Matt Conlon dot com
Matt's Brew Log
What fun words! Being a retired Marine, I could definitely fit 'scuttlebutt' in a story somewhere.
Popping in by way of the A-Z Challenge. I’m blogging at:
Write, Wrong or Indifferent
Marie Anne’s Missives
In the Garden With Sow-n-Sow
Every Day Crochet
Thanks for the mention!
Hmmm...kerplunk! I'll be on the lookout for "k" words now. :)
Matt - thanks for the laugh. Very cute creation and an excellent example of humor with K!
Thanks so much for joining me, Sylvia, hugs..
I thought Bobby Hill from King of the Hill had made that up when he said it, interesting to find it's true!
Glad I found your blog, enjoying the read :)
What an awesome fact! I love it. I'm going to be K-ing all the time when I need a character to be funny :-)
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