K
Kapusta
Facts: This is a "memory word," a "secret code word that only you know
the real, true meaning of . . . a key word that would trigger [a] memory . . .
jog loose a cherished moment."
In Literature:
• "I started them off with a magical word of my own. 'Kapusta.' It was the
name of the yellow-eyed, slate-grey cat who came to live with me after Greg
died. I smiled when I said the word -- I knew they wouldn't understand it
and I let it linger as an example to them of just how mystical and obscure
their memory word could be." -- Theodore Menten, After Goodbye (1994)
Kazam
(see also alakazam)
kazam!, we will have magic.
-- Grant Dixon, Event Horizon: Hamilton Amateur Astronomers (1999)
Mystique: Kazam is the "onomatopoetic description of the Big Bang."4
Meanings:
• Instantly
-- Eryk Hanut, The Road to Guadalupe: A Modern Pilgrimage to the Virgin of the
Americas (2001)
• Magic word
-- Terry Pratchett, Sourcery (2001)
• Vanish, disappear
"Just kind of vanished -- kazam!" -- Frederick Barthelme, Elroy Nights (200 )
"[W]e have just two bales to go when the shift whistle blows. Kazam!
Everyone splits." -- Mike O'Connor, When the Tiger Weeps (2004)
Origins: The root of kazam is echoed in many languages. In Greek, "cassuma"
is a cunning trick. In Arabic, "kazam" can refer to a sword, an oath,
and avarice. In Hindi, "kasam" is an oath.
Facts: A machine for molding plywood into complex curves was invented
in 1941 and called "Kazam!" It took something flat and made it three-dimensional,
like magic.
Theodore Menten, After Goodbye (1994)
4 Robert V. Gentry, Creation's Tiny Mystery (2004)
5 John Morris, The New Nation Vol. 4 (1880)
6 Charlotte Fiell, Design of the 20th Century (2001)