Country Joe MacDonald fired up the throngs at Woodstock 45 years ago with a bawdy cheer that began, “Gimme an F.”
You’ll have to look elsewhere to learn what the second letter was, if you don’t know and can’t guess, but now it might be “R,” followed by “A-C-K” — FRACK.
That’s one spelling for a shortened word derived from hydraulic fracturing, the well completion process that has helped drive a revolution in U.S. oil and gas production.
Opponents of the process, who contend that fossil fuels in general and fracturing in particular endanger the planet, like the spelling because of its similarity to Country Joe’s famous call and response.
Now, some in the industry are pushing back with the message that however you spell it, hydraulic fracturing is OK.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that companies in the Northeast’s booming Marcellus Shale are mounting a campaign to reclaim the word from protesters who use it pejoratively on signs, slogans and even songs.
The campaign’s theme: “Fracking’s a good word.”
Still, that argument over the process itself doesn’t address the question of how to spell the shortened form, which the industry has used for decades but often spelled without the “K” in written communication.
FuelFix and the Houston Chronicle generally use “hydraulic fracturing” or “fracturing,” limiting the shortened forms to quotes and sometimes headlines—but using the K in those cases, consistent with Associated Press style that is our informal guideline.
A popular dictionary spelled it with a K in its latest edition.
Commenters offered FuelFix some opinions on the style a few years ago. Weigh in now by voting in the poll below.
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