Remember the title "KKnD"?

Question

I want to ask why in the title "KKnD" it's:

• Krush, Kill 'n' Destroy

instead of

• Crush, Kill 'n' Destroy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KKnD_series

I couldn't find this word in the dictionary and I've never seen it anywhere else.

Answer 1

Misspelling "crush" as "krush" is a creative misspelling -- an uncommon technical term for this is "sensational spelling." From Wikipedia:

Sensational spelling is the deliberate spelling of a word in an incorrect or non-standard way for special effect.

In English popular culture the two most common examples are:

• convenience brands that emphasize casual misspelling of a word in shorter form: cheese -> cheez, quick -> quik, easy -> EZ
• foreign styling that makes words seem as if they are written in another language -- for example, using ü and k to make band names seem more German (to reflect the Germanic branding of metal music as a genre).

"Krush" could be either a convenience styling (like kwik) or a foreign styling (like okkult) depending on context. Your example seems more like the second.

Answer 2

There's nothing particular about the misspelling of the word 'crush'. It's a common thing in English-speaking popular culture - especially targeted to youth - to misspell words deliberately to appear cool and rebellious, or to make a distinctive trademark.

For just one genre, look at the heavy-metal rock bands in the 1980s that used creative misspelling, like jackal -> Jackyl and motley crew -> Motley Crue.

By changing from 'crush' to 'krush', the first 2 letters in the abbreviation are now the same. The abbreviation is also pronounced with a pleasant assonance - "Kay Kay en Dee" vs. "See Kay en Dee".