Why des adding "K" to a word make it Kerbal?

[FishInferno]

On the forums, I have seen many "Kerbal" versions of real-life things. But all anyone does is change the first letter to a K. Why is this? I have seen people say that their Kerbals were Missing in Action, but instead of saying "MIA", they say "KIA". The kerbal is still missing in action; he is not "Kerbal in action". Also, us humans don't have everything start with an "H".

Sorry is that came off a little harsh, but I am just a little confused:P

[Norpo]

Because it is an inside joke of the kommunity. It is intended to be humorous.

(Also, KIA could be killed in action, and let's be honest; if your kerbal blows up in a capsule plummeting 100 m/s it stands to reason he's not coming back, unless you have respawn on)

EDIT: And like any joke, it gets old after it's been told the 6298th time.

EDIT2: And, I hear that before Kerbin had it's name, people used to call it "Kearth", so it's been a part of the community for quite a long time.

Edited February 21, 2015 by Norpo

[Tex_NL]

KIA does not stand for Kerbal In Action and it never did. KIA has always stood for Killed In Action.

Edit: Ninja'd

[pincushionman]

"KIA" may in fact be "killed in action," as in confirmed dead, vs. uncertain conditions, loss of contact, and the hope of recovery. The nature of spacecraft accidents means that a catastrophic failure of the spacecraft results in the certainty of dead Kerbals.

...But as for the rest of the words where people shoehorn "K" into the word...it was cute the first couple of times I saw it, then it got old real fast.

*EDIT* Oh noes the nunjas

[White Owl]

Very few placenames ingame actually start with K. It's an extremely dumb joke... never was funny, not even the first time.

[Flixxbeatz]

oh god, the "K" syndrome

[RainDreamer]

oh god, the "K" syndrome

Kessler syndrome?

[Flixxbeatz]

Kessler syndrome?

Well played.

Nevertheless adding "K" to every word became very excessive (CANCER) before, that it started to irk people. Good thing it has died down already.

Worst examples I've heard was calling Kerbin "Kearth" and calling Sun "Kun" and "Kol" ("Kerbol" is still acceptable, IMO).

Oh - and btw the phenomenon has its own splash in loading screen

[Canopus]

KIA is basically the official thing to say since in older versions it would say that on the Kerbal facecams if you crashed a capsule.

[worir4]

It has already effected some of the English language. Knife? Why the K ?

[Flixxbeatz]

It has already effected some of the English language. Knife? Why the K ?

nah, getting "nifed" is better

"get nifed m8"

[Commissioner Tadpole]

Yeah, I'm not much a fan of the K-Syndrome either, but alas, calling others out on it was akin to being rude.

Worst examples I've heard was calling Kerbin "Kearth" and calling Sun "Kun" and "Kol" ("Kerbol" is still acceptable, IMO).

Gets funnier when you realize that "Kun" is a japanese honorofic. Which means people claimed Kerbol was japanese. Which is amazing.

[NovaSilisko]

Does anybody who says it actually find it genuinely amusing in any way? It's been done to death ten times over by now, and the only way I can see anyone using it with the slightest bit of seriousness is as a meta-joke, to make fun of the tropes of the KSP community...

Then again, the official twitter used the hashtag "#kictionary" once, so I have no idea.

[sal_vager]

There's a few K-words in-game, Kerman, Kerbin, Kerbal...

Fans added Kerbol for the Sun, then the Mun was added, it's hard to put a "K" in Moon.

Unfortunately the "K = Kerbal" thing had already started so K-words kept kropping up in fanworKs.

(ahem)

I'm pretty sure Squad find it amusing but don't want to Kerbalise everything, there were a lot of K-names suggested for new planets but only Ike even contains a K.

I doubt KSP will ever escape K-words, it's grown up around the game and is part of the mythos around Kerbals for a lot of players

Even banning the letter K won't stop it, sorry Nova I tried.

[Brotoro]

Yes. The joke is now about the old joke.

[RainDreamer]

When I first saw them they were pretty funny.

[Scotius]

I think it might be an attempt at tongue-in-cheek "kerbalese" or "kerblish". An insider jargon affirming that user knows what does it mean, and therefore is a part of the community.

[Guest]

[something]

Edited April 5, 2015 by Jack Wolfe

[klgraham1013]

Very few placenames ingame actually start with K. It's an extremely dumb joke... never was funny, not even the first time.

Quoted for accuracy.

[TMS]

It's done for komedic effect.

[Flixxbeatz]

Does anybody who says it actually find it genuinely amusing in any way? It's been done to death ten times over by now, and the only way I can see anyone using it with the slightest bit of seriousness is as a meta-joke, to make fun of the tropes of the KSP community...

Here it goes, coming from the "K-word User Headhunter" himself

[UmbralRaptor]

It was funny/seemed like a good idea at the time.

At the time was summer 2011, and was somewhat annoying before the Mün was released. Circa 0.12-0.16, you could have someone say "Kun" and have no idea if they meant the star or a moon...

Kessler syndrome?

Krantzberg syndrome.

[sdj64]

I'm usually fine with it as in its use in mods such as Modular Kolonization Systems and others, as long as it's not overdone. But the one thing that I really hate is when people say "Oh my Kod" in the fan stories and such. I'm not even religious but it strikes me as really wrong.

Plus it conjures images of their god being a giant space fish. In a weird way that actually makes sense since it would fit with the Kraken.

[Taki117]

It originated with the loading screen line "Adding K- to every word" that appears randomly during game loading. It kinda took off from there.

[NovaSilisko]

It originated with the loading screen line "Adding K- to every word" that appears randomly during game loading. It kinda took off from there.

No it didn't. It originated a hell of a lot longer ago than that, basically immediately after the game was first released in mid-2011. Back then it was common to refer to "Kearth" by the community (and devs too, I think?)

I really just don't get the appeal. Is it considered clever? Original? I genuinely cannot (and never have been able to) find any humor in it whatsoever.

Edited February 21, 2015 by NovaSilisko