[COFF] Awk, not Kaw?

As I was (re)reading Bentley's "More Programming Pearls", I saw the following in Sect. 2.6, Further Reading: "Aho, Kernighan, and Weinberger designed and built the original Awk language in 1977. (Whatever you do, don't permute the initials of their last names!)" The exclamation mark seems to indicate a background story.  Anyone know it? N.