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The most obvious example I can think of is the Mortal Kombat series. They replace almost all hard sounding C's with the letter 'K'. A couple other examples off the top of my head are 'Froot Loops', 'The Beatles', the Red Hot Chili Peppers album 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik'. There's a tonne more. I'm just wondering if there's a proper term for these types of words.

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I don't think "The Beatles" is even remotely in the same ballpark as the rest. It's a word play, a pun. Magik and Froot are not. – RegDwighт♦ Jul 12 '11 at 23:15
Yes, I agree, "The Beatles" is more of a play on words than deliberate misspelling. – whoabackoff Jul 12 '11 at 23:18
Of note, I have heard that Froot Loops are spelled that way to dodge a legal issue involving a product labeled Fruit not actually containing fruit. – MrHen Jul 13 '11 at 0:27
@MrHen, yeah I've heard that too. Also with the use of chocolaty instead of chocolate for foods not actually containing chocolate. – whoabackoff Jul 13 '11 at 5:45

1 Answer

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I'm amazed there is actually a term for this.

Yes, there is a name. It's :

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

Sensational spellings are common in advertising and product placement. In particular, brand names...

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