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It's because the rock band Rush did a song about them [0]. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdpMpfp-J_I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdpMpfp-J_I

by bregma 4y ago

pge 4y ago
That’s YYZ not YKK and is a reference to the airport code for Toronto airport.
dav_Oz 4y ago
Actually if you look closely at the repeated notes at the beginning of the song it can be read as morse code (without spaces) for YYZ [0]. The story goes while on the Toronto Airport Neil Peart overheard the airport identifier in morse code and so the intro was born. But I'm not sure where he would have heard that other than over radio broadcast reserved for pilots and ATCs. Instead I think he must have been aware of the obscure history of canadian airport identifiers when wondering about why they have no resemblance (like mostly in the rest of the world) with the letters of the respective cities/geographic area. Canadian airport codes have their roots in the old telegraph stations operated by the railways. They were assigned two-letter identifiers so as to be easily tapped in Morse code. As radio communications evolved, these stations added beacons and specialized in weather reporting. In the 1930’s, a third letter was added to the classification [...] [1][2] [0]https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2022/08/14/yyz/ https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2022/08/14/yyz/ [1]https://rwy23.com/en-de/pages/the-hidden-language-of-airport-codes https://rwy23.com/en-de/pages/the-hidden-language-of-airport... [2]https://www.blogto.com/city/2019/04/why-torontos-airport-code-yyz/ https://www.blogto.com/city/2019/04/why-torontos-airport-cod...
duffyjp 4y ago
Outkast was a phenomenon while I was in college. "YKK on your zipper" was a lyric in "So Fresh, So Clean." That was the first time I'd heard of them and I recall looking at all my stuff to see what used YKK. I had to make sure I was dope or whatever.

It's because the rock band Rush did a song about them [0]. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdpMpfp-J_I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdpMpfp-J_I

by bregma 4y ago

It's because the rock band Rush did a song about them [0]. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdpMpfp-J_I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdpMpfp-J_I

pge 4y ago

That’s YYZ not YKK and is a reference to the airport code for Toronto airport.

dav_Oz 4y ago

Actually if you look closely at the repeated notes at the beginning of the song it can be read as morse code (without spaces) for YYZ [0]. The story goes while on the Toronto Airport Neil Peart overheard the airport identifier in morse code and so the intro was born. But I'm not sure where he would have heard that other than over radio broadcast reserved for pilots and ATCs. Instead I think he must have been aware of the obscure history of canadian airport identifiers when wondering about why they have no resemblance (like mostly in the rest of the world) with the letters of the respective cities/geographic area. Canadian airport codes have their roots in the old telegraph stations operated by the railways. They were assigned two-letter identifiers so as to be easily tapped in Morse code. As radio communications evolved, these stations added beacons and specialized in weather reporting. In the 1930’s, a third letter was added to the classification [...] [1][2] [0]https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2022/08/14/yyz/ https://www.johndcook.com/blog/2022/08/14/yyz/ [1]https://rwy23.com/en-de/pages/the-hidden-language-of-airport-codes https://rwy23.com/en-de/pages/the-hidden-language-of-airport... [2]https://www.blogto.com/city/2019/04/why-torontos-airport-code-yyz/ https://www.blogto.com/city/2019/04/why-torontos-airport-cod...

duffyjp 4y ago

Outkast was a phenomenon while I was in college. "YKK on your zipper" was a lyric in "So Fresh, So Clean." That was the first time I'd heard of them and I recall looking at all my stuff to see what used YKK. I had to make sure I was dope or whatever.