Historical Events  Brands
Chick-fil-a

Alternate:
Chic-fil-a

Current:
Chick-fil-a

Exactly how was it spelt?

Since its founding in 1946, Americans have loved the chicken sandwiches served by the famous chain known as Chick-fil-a. But wait - have they? Many are claiming the spelling was always Chic-fil-a and has been changed somehow by the Mass Memory Discrepancy Effect.

There is understandable confusion here. If you say both versions out loud, they are similar, although the correct pronunciation of "Chic" might well escape many. Furthermore, from a marketing point of view both have merits - one is merely stating what the product is, "Chick" short for "Chicken", and the other is a way of association the product with something that is seen as cool, i.e. "Chic".

Well-known Mandela Effect

This is a very well-known one in the US, and many cite it as the first they came across which really convinced them there was either something wrong with their memory, or something else going on. It's also the subject of many people who are already aware of it as being a Mandela Effect seeing it "flip" back again to the way it was when they first realised it had changed. There are plenty of these "flip flops", the best known one being Houston, we have a problem.

Smoking gun

Check out these images taken from in one of their outlets, both missing the "k". Here's one for a table marker:

chic fil a 1 300x400

And another, this time a poster:

chic fil a 2 300x400

Spoken

There's some evidence for this Mandela Effect in the pun people used to make. "Chic", to rhyme with "Shiek", means classy, fashionable etc. So the people saying it thinking there's no "k" would make light fun of the idea of eating take-out fried chicken at a high-class restaurant. If they knew it was "Chick", it wouldn't rhyme and the whole pun would not only not make sense, but not even exist in the first place.