'Flak' or 'Flack'?

Posted: Friday, May 25, 2007 2:56 PM by Mark Murray
Filed Under: Security

From NBC's Mike Viqueira
Consulting a dictionary, it appears that one can use either flack or flak.

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Comments

Well let's all just cherry pick whichever one fits our political views and move on. Why stop now? After all this whole fighting amongst ourselves is really just to show a total lack of respect for the threat the terrorist pose to us. That's the only reason I play these games. Kudos to the democrats that claim Global Warming is the biggest danger we face today. That's really gotta piss them off. Take that UBL in your face!! Man I crack me up :-)

Dave, Tn (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 3:05 PM)

oh, let the baby have his bottle.

wah, wah (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 3:08 PM)

haha what a dunce.

Mark, NY (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 3:20 PM)

I think that "Frick and Frack" better describes these guys. (You have to be old enough to appreciate this reference so I guess I revealed my age, huh?) Who cares how you spell the name of the coat for pete's sake.

Independent, Texas (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 3:32 PM)

Dave, Tn--Cracked...That about sums you up.

Gary Schear, bozeman Montana (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 3:41 PM)

If being correct is the game then Dubya takes the cake and ice cream with "I'm the decider" or what ever comes out of his mouth. McCain has lost his creditability when he started down the path of gotta stay in Iraq. As for what I think, vote all of them out and start new. Call it the purge vote! Does it make sense, who knows, but anything right now might be better than what we have currently. Is it crazy, hell yeah.

Terry, Disabled Vet, Des Moines, IA (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 3:45 PM)

Actually go to dictionary.com and type in flack jacket and see what comes up, then type in flak jacket. Did Keith Doberman do the research on this because this is just stupid.

Lee, Colorado Springs, Co (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 3:56 PM)

Consulting an encyclopedia it is Flak. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flak_jacket

Liberrocky (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 4:01 PM)

"Consulting a dictionary, it appears that one can use either flack or flak." Only if you're completely ignorant of where the term originated. The term came from the German Flugabwehrkanone anti-aircraft cannons, designated FlaK as a contraction. You simply proved McCain's point about those ignorant of military culture by including yourself it it.

Bob Owens (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 4:34 PM)

Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, 10th edition, flack is defined as a variation of flak, you know, like McCain is a variation of Bush.

Jim, Santa Cruz (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 4:37 PM)

lawl

asdf (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 4:40 PM)

The Associated Press stylebook also contradicts the definition you've used. A "flack" is a press agent. "Flak" is anti-aircraft fire.

Peter (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 4:50 PM)

Pathetic effort to make McCain look wrong. Type "flack jacket" into Yahoo and see what you get: "Did you mean: flak jacket" Flack jacket: 218,000 hits Flak jacket: 1,420,000 hits McCain's right, Obama's wrong, and you can stop carrying Obama's water now. McCain certainly knows much more about military matters.

Jerry, Long Beach, CA (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 5:10 PM)

I love how the dittoheads are so eager to debate red herrings instead of their support for a failed policy. And if you google flack jacket, you'll see that the two are interchangeable.

Roland (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 5:16 PM)

Good job. No need for Obama to go to all the trouble of defending himself when you men of the world news specialists can intervene. BTW, how ya doing on getting your Instant Republican Fact-checking website up and running. Yeah, I know it's a little early to be pushing that 15%.

Dusty, Rochester, NY (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 5:30 PM)

And while you're arguing over spelling, two more children are blown to pieces. Mission Accomplished.

Åmerican (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 5:40 PM)

Look up mccain's spelling of "Barbara Ann". Too bad Mccain is ignorant of everything BUT military culture.

Ken, Seattle WA (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 6:28 PM)

http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861611944/flak.html,its flack or flak but for McCain, its McCANE. He is so cranky, I can hear him all the way from hell.

mm, ma (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 8:27 PM)

I'm sorry: would someone please tell me who had the higher GPA for their undergraduate years at Yale, Bush or Kerry? You know, I'm just wondering, because we certainly wouldn't want anyone accusing anyone else of being a "moron." Thanks for you help.

Denny, Chugiak, Alaska (Sent Friday, May 25, 2007 9:20 PM)

On the free dictionary page for 'flak jacket' there is no alternate spelling.

RJ Fraser, Kent, OH (Sent Saturday, May 26, 2007 9:04 AM)

Copied and pasted from dictionary.com:.... flak /flæk/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[flak] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun 1. antiaircraft fire, esp. as experienced by the crews of combat airplanes at which the fire is directed. 2. criticism; hostile reaction; abuse: Such an unpopular decision is bound to draw a lot of flak from the press. Also, flack. flak also flack (flāk) Pronunciation Key n. Antiaircraft artillery. The bursting shells fired from such artillery. Excessive or abusive criticism. Dissension; opposition. Informal Excessive or abusive criticism. Dissension; opposition..... I'm sure that by the time this is posted it will be extremely hard to read. I wish the "enter" key worked. But, as you can see, they are the same. It would be "just stupid" to try to say different.

Ken, Seattle WA (Sent Sunday, May 27, 2007 1:23 AM)

well Mcayne better put his flake jaucket back on when his plan for iranq blows up in our faices.

eze, seattle, wa (Sent Sunday, May 27, 2007 2:31 PM)

Either way you spell it, it's WWII German. I've even got a friend with that name, and people spell it differently, every time. The proper American name continues to be what we called it in Vietnam, Triple A. 3A samo AAA. Anti-Aircraft-Artillery. Flack/Flak, is reserved for the WWII guys. They flew through it, they wore the jackets. They copped the term. The Vietnam AAA was the Commie 12.7 and its' slug went through a flack/flak jacket like a stolen car through a red light. Or a Politician through a perceived gaffe. (The 12.7 is still in use all over the world, but it isn't just used on planes.) Much Ado About Nothing.

Steve Turner Cedar Falls Iowa (Sent Sunday, May 27, 2007 8:00 PM)

You can spot pitiful losers. They search for spelling errors. It appears McCain doesn't knows how the the term "flak/flack jacket" was used by real ground combat troops in Vietnam, as he flew 30,000ft over the battlefields. Does this moron think all the ground troops in Vietnam wearing the jackets were worried about NON-EXISTANT ANTI-AIRCRAFT ARTILLERY? Real combat troops used the jackets as body armor for bullets and exploding fragments from various sources like grenades, RPGs, mortors, ect. No one was carrying a dictionary around at the time and either spelling is okay. Perhaps no one bothered to tell Webster's Dictionary that when returning home.

Paul Mc, Plano, TX (Sent Monday, May 28, 2007 10:37 AM)

mccayne had better put his flake jaquet back on before his irack plan blows up in our feces.

eze, seattle, wa (Sent Monday, May 28, 2007 12:30 PM)

Paul. Sometimes those 12.7's, which were like our .50 Caliber/calibre machine gun, showed up in battle. Yeah, the fla/ck/k jackets were good for fragments, not always for bullets (like the helmets), heavy, hot, non-functional when you slept NEXT to them, etc. As far as walking through Big Lead, they wouldn't make it, and neither would the wearer. The guys now have Kevlar. I guess that's something to feel better about.

Steve Turner Cedar Falls Iowa (Sent Monday, May 28, 2007 1:15 PM)

Wow, this may be one of the most asinine, irrelevant arguments I've ever heard in politics... Pretty sad for McCain, when all he's got to attack about a candidate is a small mis-spelling. Reeks of desperation to me...

Joe D. Mesa, AZ (Sent Monday, May 28, 2007 10:37 PM)

Who cares? The thing we should look at is McCain is becoming befuddled and hes running for president.So we'll have another nut case in office if we're not careful.

F StLouis (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 8:28 AM)

"Killing Me Softly With His Song"--Roberta Flack, not "Flak"

Dorothy (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 8:53 AM)

Its hard to imagine the presidential contest turning on whether we use dictionary.com or Websters Collegiate Dictionary as the defining authority for military gear.

Paul Miller, Woodbridge, VA (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 9:00 AM)

Paul. At least we know how to use a Dictionary. Not all the Presidents we have chosen, are that enlightened.

Steve Turner Cedar Falls Iowa (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 10:02 AM)

...well, I learned some very interesting things about "flak jackets" from vets who actually wore them

JIm, Santa Cruz (Sent Tuesday, May 29, 2007 10:04 AM)

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