what does 'OK' mean?

Answer 1

As far as I know, it was used years back during times of war. Soldiers used to write "O.K." which meant "0 Killed" to notify other fellow soldiers how much dead people were close to them. So basically when someone wrote "OK" it meant that everything was alright. That has been the meaning since then.

Answer 2

The ancronym "O.K." (okay) in the English language means that things are satisfactory, and going well. If someone says that they are "O.K.", they mean that they are feeling content, and untroubled.

It comes from the Greek phrase Ολα Καλά ('Ola Kala'), and was used by scholars to mark their students papers, if they passed with a decent score.

There are other theories, but this one is more widely-accepted than the others. =) Hope that helps, luv.

Answer 3

There are a lot of theories but the one with the most evidence is "oll korrect" which is a misspell of All Correct, although it isn't certain that this is where OK originates from it is the most likely source.

Answer 4

"Ol' Korrect."

The nation went through an idiotic abbreviation phase between 1830 and 1850 when newspapers were the MySpace of the hour.

OK was the only survivor.

Answer 5

Sure, yes, alright
Or if response is.. "I'm OK" --> means I'm fine, everything is fine.. etc.

Or, it is just the abbreviation to Oklahoma

Answer 6

Why does no one mention the sarcasti meaning of "OK" that is used by almost 80 % of all people in my opinion. Most often when I heard someoen say "OK" it meant "yeah, I try to act as if I am listening to or agreeing with you, but in reality you just now really piss me off". Most times OK is used in a sarcastic way.

Answer 7

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It was used during war times when soldiers would write O.K. which stands for 0 Killed to let other soldiers know that how much dead people were close to them. So it means that everything was alright.

Answer 8

What Does Ok Mean

Answer 9

Some believe it came from the abbreviation of Orrin Kendall biscuits, which soldiers ate during the civil war. Others say OK is short for Aux Cayes, a Haitian port that American sailors praised for its rum. Another legend suggests the word comes from Old Keokuk, a Native American tribal chief who was said to have signed treaties with his initials.

But none of those versions have been proven correct, as NPR's Neva Grant reports for Morning Edition's Present at the Creation series.

What is known is that one of the first instances of OK appearing in print was in the spring of 1839 by the Boston Morning Post:

It is hardly necessary to say to those who know Mr. Hughes, that his establishment will be found to be 'A. No. One' -- that is, O.K. -- all correct.

So if OK stands for "all correct," wouldn't it be "AC"? Not exactly, says linguist Erin McKean, who points out that the word was intentionally misspelled. Much like the way people on the Internet shorten or abbreviate words when typing, OK was misspelled on purpose.

"For instance, a lot of kids online spell "cool," "k-e-w-l," says McKean, senior editor for U.S. dictionaries at Oxford Press. "They know how to spell cool, but it just looks cooler to spell it "k-e-w-l."

It was cool in certain East Coast cities in the mid-19th century to substitute OK for "all correct." McKean says it was common for people of that day to use inside lingo -- shorthand full of puns, purposeful misspellings and abbreviations. For example, they'd use "SP" for "small potatoes," or "TBFTB" for "too big for their britches."

Other abbreviations faded into obscurity, but the word OK stuck around. One of the reasons it weathered time is because it got a boost from then-president Martin Van Buren.

Van Buren, a native of Kinderhook, N.Y., was popularly referred to as "Old Kinderhook" -- OK for short. Van Buren's 1840 reelection campaign became so heated that the word OK was widely used and abused by both sides.

In fact, to hurt the Democratic Party, an opponent started a rumor that it was former president Andrew Jackson who created OK, as an abbreviation of "all correct." The rumor implied that the rustic Jackson was a poor speller. That explanation for OK wasn't true, either, but it did have staying power. And it helped propel the use of OK even further.

So much, in fact, that it's used all around the world today.

"To talk about the larger phenomenon as OK spread across the America and given to the world -- that implies that it has multiple origins; that people accept it for a variety of reasons," says Michael Adams, a linguist and an Albright College professor.

Adams says there are words like OK in many other languages. In the West African language of Wolof, "waw kay" means "yes." In Choctaw, "okeh" means "indeed."

While there isn't any proof that any of the words gave birth to the American OK, Adams says it's possible that the many non-English phrases helped the English one stick.

"The influence of Choctaw, African American speech, political speech -- all of that came together in a kind of melting pot," Adams says. "There is a sense that the newspaper started it, but all those other influences came together to make OK probably the most popular American English word."

McKean says because OK has that sense of "jauntiness and belonging," people from all over the globe want a part of it.

Famed journalist H.L. Mencken wrote about it. American soldiers took it to the places they were stationed. It was even taken into space, by astronauts like John Glenn, who excitedly exclaimed as the Friendship 7 launched, that "We're all OK!"

"I'm trying to think what people would have said before OK," McKean questions. "If you had to go through a day without it, could you do it? Are you going to say, "right you are," or "very well?"

Answer 10

It is also the official abbreviation for Oklahoma.