I have been told on various occasions that Kentucky Fried Chicken had been reduced to KFC to deemphasize (1) the "Kentucky," (2) the "Fried," and (3) the "Chicken."

I thought that (2) was classic marketing sleight-of-hand: you go to KFC for no other reason than because you want fried chicken, but due to the introduction of the acronym, the customer need not be reminded that fried chicken is exactly what he is eating. But anyway, this was meant as a "response" to health-conscious times, much like McDonald's recent empty gesture at reducing portion sizes. The burger and fries are no more healthy than before, and it's still possible to get them in gut-busting amounts: you'll just have to buy two mediums, or two larges — a fact of over-ordering that Big Mac's defense attorneys will no doubt emphasize to the jury when you bring your obesity suit.

There was an email circulating about (3) to the effect that KFC farmed and raised their fowl under such divergent conditions that they could no longer lawfully call what they served chicken. That is, the birds had no head, etc. Never mind, of course, that the word "chicken" is bandied about so casually in the company's ads. The far-from-authoritative TruthorFiction.com has dismissed this rumor as untrue.

My guess is that "KFC" came into being because someone decided it was too difficult to remember, too much of a mouthful for Americans to articulate, and that there would be a richness of future ad campaigns riffing on the acronym, e.g., "Kickass Flavor, Colonel!" Kitchen Fresh Chicken does not leap to mind as compelling, creative, or remotely true — it won out, no doubt, over other proposals for these reasons.

Can you name the Eleven Herbs and Spices? Let me see . . . there's parsley, sage, rosemary, & thyme, the two Thomases, Simon Peter, Judas Iscariot (of course), John Lennon, the Department of Agriculture, and English Breakfast. There, that's eleven!