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  • 17-OCT-2025 | The Oxford English Dictionary’s “Krazy” Ad

17-OCT-2025 | The Oxford English Dictionary’s “Krazy” Ad

Author

Dan Bogachek
October 17, 2025

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The Oxford English Dictionary’s “Krazy” Ad

Has the world gone krazy?

We think so. Why you ask? Well you see this fine language we call English is composed of letters — 26 to be exact. Each letter specifically crafted, each with its own job to do. Some letters play larger roles than others, and that’s just how it is. Unfortunately, there are people out there (Hollywood?) with no regard for the alphabet, let alone the natural order of things. And we believe it was these people who propagated the intentional switching of the letter S for the letter Z. All of a sudden, words like ‘kids’ were being spelled ‘kidz.’ We asked ourselves what purpose could these abominations possibly serve? Aesthetic? Marketability? Street cred? And as we questioned this, it happened again and again. Cool became ‘kewl.’ Thanks became ‘thnx.’ And we became angry. We realized that a dictionary has just as much a duty to the letters that make up the words in its pages as the words themselves. That’s why you’ll never find any instance of inappropriate letter usage in our pages.

The Oxford English Dictionary
Remember English?

🏁

  • This whole piece revolves around their big why. And their big why points to what? Credibility and trustworthiness. Detecting a why is simple. Whenever you see a brand say “we,” there’s a good chance “why” is also nearby.

  • Another reminder that we do actually have permission to ask questions in our copy — and not just in the hook.

  • Repetition for setup. “Cool became ‘kewl.’ Thanks became ‘thx.’ And we became angry.” Even the structure is emoting, “enough is enough.”

  • Even an institution as sophisticated as The Oxford English Dictionary is writing at a 5th grade level (a la Hemingway App). And they even use a fragment sentence…