where does the famous O.K come from and what dos it mean? No one seems to know.O.K?

Answer 1

Word History
OK is a quintessentially American term that has spread from English to many other languages. Its origin was the subject of scholarly debate for many years until Allen Walker Read showed that OK is based on a joke of sorts. OK is first recorded in 1839 but was probably in circulation before that date. During the 1830s there was a humoristic fashion in Boston newspapers to reduce a phrase to initials and supply an explanation in parentheses. Sometimes the abbreviations were misspelled to add to the humor. OK was used in March 1839 as an abbreviation for all correct, the joke being that neither the O nor the K was correct. Originally spelled with periods, this term outlived most similar abbreviations owing to its use in President Martin Van Buren's 1840 campaign for reelection. Because he was born in Kinderhook, New York, Van Buren was nicknamed Old Kinderhook, and the abbreviation proved eminently suitable for political slogans. That same year, an editorial referring to the receipt of a pin with the slogan O.K. had this comment: “frightful letters … significant of the birth-place of Martin Van Buren, old Kinderhook, as also the rallying word of the Democracy of the late election, ‘all correct’ .... Those who wear them should bear in mind that it will require their most strenuous exertions … to make all things O.K.”

OK
from American English
This word originated in United States

America's greatest contribution to the English language and indeed to languages all over the world is a joke. Or at least that's how it began.

In the summer of 1838 newspaper columnists in Boston thought nothing funnier than to reduce a phrase to its initials (with an explanation in parentheses). Allen Walker Read, the premier historian of our most famous expression, found this example in the Boston Morning Post of June 12, 1838: "We understand that J. Eliot Brown, Esq., Secretary of the Boston Young Men's Society for Meliorating the Condition of the Indians, F.A.H. (fell at Hoboken, N.J.) on Saturday last at 4 o'clock, p.m. in a duel W.O.O.O.F.C. (with one of our first citizens.) What measures will be taken by the Society in consequence of this heart rending event, R.T.B.S. (remains to be seen)."

To add to the humor, columnists sometimes misspelled the abbreviations. One 1838 example was O.W., meaning "all right," with blatant misspellings of both initial letters. That set the stage for an even more outrageous misspelling in March 1839: O.K., translated as "all correct." The joke was that neither O nor K was correct.

O.K. might have died out with O.W., R.T.B.S., and the rest of the laughable abbreviations if "Old Kinderhook," President Martin Van Buren (born in Kinderhook, New York), hadn't running for reelection in 1840. "O.K. clubs" supporting him were established throughout the country. Old Kinderhook lost, but O.K. won a permanent place in American English.

Until about 1900, however, O.K. remained obscure. Even Mark Twain apparently never used it. But the twentieth century turned out to be an OK century, perhaps encouraged by scholarly President Woodrow Wilson's use of "okeh" on official documents. (He spelled it "okeh" because he mistakenly thought it came from the Choctaw Indian language.) It was streamlined, too, in this century, increasingly written without the periods that mark it as a mock abbreviation. We now live in an OK world where it is difficult to imagine a conversation or a computer session without frequent use of OK.

OK
Origin: 1839

Is it a word, a phrase, an abbreviation, an acronym? Do you spell it O.K., OK, o.k., or okay? Any way, it's OK. This most uncategorizable of Americanisms is categorically the most successful of all time. OK is "all correct."

That was its original meaning, an in-your-face misspelling of the first letters of all and correct. In 1839, when we first come across it, O.K. was just one of many humorous abbreviations in the newspapers of Boston, like O.F.M. (our first men), S.P. (small potatoes), and R.T.B.S. (remains to be seen), and like these other abbreviations, O.K. was usually spelled with periods. The modern expert on OK, Columbia University professor Allen Walker Read, found the epidemic of abbreviations then spread to the newspapers of New York City, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, not to mention Chicago and the small town of Peru, Illinois. When the fad for abbreviations faded a few years later, only two of them, N.G. (no go, no good) and O.K., took permanent hold. But O.K. took off like a rocket.

Why? Because the following year, 1840, was a presidential election year, and Martin Van Buren, a.k.a. "Old Kinderhook" because of his birthplace in Kinderhook, New York, was up for reelection. His supporters, the Democrats, formed an O.K. Club in New York City that attained notoriety not only with torchlight parades but also by disrupting rallies of Van Buren's Whig opponent, William Henry Harrison. Although O.K. the politician lost the election, O.K. the expression doubled its strength. From that time on, America was O.K.

After these humorous and political beginnings, O.K. settled in to make itself indispensable, sometimes losing its periods in the process and becoming simply OK. OK was quickly recognized as a brief, distinctive, universally understood annotation to indicate approval of a document, and a brief, distinctive, universally understood spoken response to indicate understanding and acceptance of a request or order. Its brevity, simplicity, and distinctiveness have commended it to languages the world over. OK is America's most successful linguistic export.

OK also okay

noun
1. The approving of an action, especially when done by one in authority: allowance, approbation, approval, authorization, consent, endorsement, leave2, license, permission, permit, sanction. See allow/prevent.
2. The act or process of accepting: acceptance, acquiescence, agreement, assent, consent, nod, yes. See accept/reject.

verb
To give one's consent to: allow, approbate, approve, authorize, consent, endorse, let, permit, sanction. See allow/prevent.

adverb
It is so; as you say or ask: absolutely, agreed, all right, assuredly, aye, gladly, indubitably, roger, undoubtedly, unquestionably, willingly, yea, yes. Informal uh-huh, yeah, yep. Slang right on. See affirm/deny/argue.

adjective
Of moderately good quality but less than excellent: acceptable, adequate, all right, average, common, decent, fair, fairish, goodish, moderate, passable, respectable, satisfactory, sufficient, tolerable. Informal tidy. See good/bad.

Answer 2

The 1840 campaign did more than change the political landscape in America and shape the style of future campaigns; it also made an enduring contribution to our language. Van Buren's supporters rallied followers for "Old Kinderhook" by organizing O.K Clubs. The Whigs, the masters of one-upmanship during the campaign declared that O.K did not stand for Old Kinderhook but rather for "Oll Korect", a spelling the Whigs jokingly pinned on the backwoods Jackson--who was a genuinly poor speller. The Whigs began a Democratic slogan and stamped it on their kegs of campaign cider.

The popular term O.K has long survived the log cabin campaign to become a nearly universal expression, what H.L Mecken called "the most succesful of Americanism". Hardly a day or hour goes by in ehich "OK" is not used in our conversation-- a tribute to the classic, colorful contest of 1840.

Answer 3

I can give you a partial answer and let you know where you can get the rest.

It comes from Greek. The Greeks were and are the most prolific maritime shippers. After examining containers to be shipped they would mark them with OK (exactly the same in the Greek alphabet) meaning the container was good to go. It stood for the Greek words which mean "everything is all right". These containers were shipped around the world and this maritime code began to be used by the general public.

To learn what the Greek words actually are, you need to ask someone who speaks Greek. Sorry.

Really, this is a true account. If you know anyone in maritime shipping, ask them. The other stories above are well writtenm but incorrect

Answer 4

OK has many meanings, the most common of which is an affirmative command with unknown origins.


Suggested origins:

"Oll Korrekt"
Allen Walker Read wrote six articles in the journal American Speech in 1963 and 1964 on the origins of the word. He dismissed the Choctaw origins as mythic folklore, emphasizing the possibility that "OK" arose as a cute abbreviation.

He believed the word to be short for any of several different spellings of "all correct", including "Oll Korrect", "Orl Korrect", and "Ole Kurreck". There was a fad in the 1830s and 1840s involving the intentional misspelling of common phrases, and referring to them by the resulting initials. These may have been influenced by the Low German phrase "Oll klor", which would have been spoken by emigrants from Northern Germany. The fad included many other briefly popular abbreviations such as OW, "oll wright" (all right) and KY, "know yuse" (no use), none of which has survived. The first recorded use of "OK" in this sense was in the Boston Morning Post on March 23, 1839, in the following passage (mostly probably written by editor Charles Gordon Greene):

The above is from the Providence Journal, the editor of which is a little too quick on the trigger, on this occasion. We said not a word about our deputation passing "through the city" of Providence.—We said our brethren were going to New York in the Richmond, and they did go, as per Post of Thursday. The "Chairman of the Committee on Charity Lecture Bells", is one of the deputation, and perhaps if he should return to Boston, via Providence, he of the Journal, and his train-band, would have his "contribution box," et ceteras, o.k.—all correct—and cause the corks to fly, like sparks, upward.
Read discounts evidence of earlier popular origins of the word; for instance, a Boston businessman used it in a daily journal in 1815, but Read argued in context it does not seem to be used in the sense of "okay, good".

Some have claimed U.S. President Andrew Jackson invented OK as an abbreviation of "Oll Korrect"; it is possible that Jackson used the term, since it was in currency towards the end of his life. Jackson may also have known the similar Choctaw word (see below).

Answer 5

during a war, O.K had been use:
O= zero
K= Killed

that's mean that no one had been killed in our camp

Answer 6

lol, I don't know what it means but i'm wondering too. oh and O.K. are my initials!!!!

Answer 7

http://www.miketodd.net/encyc/okay.htm